title: Trials and tribulations: how we established a major incident database.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We describe the process of setting up a database of major incident reports and its potential future application.
  
  
  METHODS
  A template for reporting on major incidents was developed using a consensus-based process involving a team of experts in the field. A website was set up as a platform from which to launch the template and as a database of submitted reports. This paper describes the processes involved in setting up a major incident reporting database. It describes how specific difficulties have been overcome and anticipates challenges for the future.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have successfully set up a major incident database, the main purpose of which is to have a repository of standardised major incident reports that can be analysed and compared in order to learn from them.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Department, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, Surrey, England. sophiehardy50@doctors.org.uk.
authors.forename: S E J
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.affiliation: The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, Drøbak, Norway.|Anaesthesia and Critical Care Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fattah
mesh_terms: D032921:Consensus; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D012308:Risk Management / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Disaster medicine; Emergency preparedness; Emergency response; Major incident; Mass casualty incident