Defining the problem, main objective, and strategies of medical management in mass-casualty incidents caused by terrorist events.
Based on the experience of managing > 20 such events during the last decade, the authors' understanding of a mass-casualty incident is that it is an event in which there may be many victims, but only a few that actually suffer from life-threatening injuries. To make an impact on survival, one must identify those who are severely wounded as quickly as possible and offer those patients optimal care. Experienced trauma physicians are the most important resource available to achieve this objective, and they should be allocated to the treatment of seriously injured victims instead of more traditional management roles such as triage and incident manager.
Ashkenazi
Itamar
I
Surgery B Department, Trauma Unit, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera, POB 169, Israel 38100. adi_ita@hotmail.com
Kessel
Boris
B
Olsha
Oded
O
Khashan
Tawfik
T
Oren
Meir
M
Haspel
Jacob
J
Alfici
Ricardo
R
D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D004190:Disasters; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D011634:Public Health; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D023481:Terrorism; D014218:Triage / Q000458:organization & administration*