Toxicological mass disaster management - a hospital deployment scheme.
Toxicological mass disasters have occurred frequently in past years and constitute a permanent threat in urban areas. From the standpoint of hospital planning, special consideration is required to treat a large number of poisoned casualties in a relatively short period. Several unique medical aspects characterize toxicological mass disasters: casualties present a single disease entity with many "borderline" cases, most medical personnel are unfamiliar with the problem and casualties present a potential contamination hazard to the hospital. A hospital deployment scheme is presented recommending Decontamination, Triage and simple Treatment Algorithms to meet the medical and organizational challenge of such a mass casualty situation. A further specific deployment scheme for treatment of organophosphorus agents poisoning is described to illustrate the principles presented.
Medical Corps Israel Defence Force Beilinson Medical Center Petah Tiqva and Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine Israel.
J
J
Baniel
Z
Z
Ram
A
A
Kami
D
D
Schindel