title: Preparedness of hospitals to respond to a radiological terrorism event as assessed by a full-scale exercise.
abstract: Hospitals and healthcare workers face the challenge of being prepared to manage victims of acts of terrorism that involve chemical, biological, and radiological agents that they do not commonly encounter. One example that is often cited as a potential terrorism scenario is the use of a conventional explosive that is mixed with radioactive material. On November 10, 2004, we conducted a regional multihospital full-scale exercise involving 11 hospitals and 358 victim-observers to evaluate hospital preparedness for such an event. Our results demonstrate that hospitals are not adequately prepared to manage mass casualties with associated radiological contamination.
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioterrorism and Disaster Preparedness, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jasper
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sweeney
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Feuer
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reganato
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009689:Nuclear Warfare; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000009:adverse effects*; D023481:Terrorism
chemical_list: D011847:Radioactive Fallout