In this issue of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Clarke et al have given an insightful look into issues surrounding the needs of hospitals responding to chemically contaminated victims of mass-casualty incidents.1 In doing so, they also have provided an opportunity to examine more general concerns related to disasters. It is intuitive that hospitals play a major role in disaster response; th...

Bombs aimed at civilian populations are the most common weapon used by terrorists throughout the world. Over the last decade, we have been involved in the management of more than 20 mass casualty incidents, most of which were caused by terrorist bombings. Commonly, in these events, there may be many victims and many deaths. However, only a few of the survivors will suffer from life-threatening ...

Federal funding provides state public and private health care systems the ability to build and maintain a reserve supply of ventilators for emergency response to mass casualty incidents. Studying and planning the ventilator reserve capability requires subject-matter expertise, identification of best mechanical-ventilation practices and quality care standards, and contingency planning. Natural d...

Introduction: At mass casualty incidents (MCIs) medical needs exceed available resources, requiring prioritization of response efforts and materials. Principles triage have evolved since the 18th century into several modern-day algorithms that sort casualties priority groups based on clinical parameters. It is unclear, however, if such are effective practical during real-world MCIs. This analys...

Human Behaviour during emergency situations is a crucial component of any response. The ability responders to effectively engage with casualties critical ensuring that instructions given are followed and in doing assist rather than hinder the In order improve likelihood this occurring it essential understand what drives decision making emergencies be able influence these. This paper will seek e...