This report describes the initial hospital and burn center management of a mass casualty incident resulting from an aircraft crash and fire. One hundred thirty soldiers were injured, including 10 immediate fatalities. Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, managed the casualties and began receiving patients 15 minutes after the crash. As a result of repetitive training that i...

Emergency medical services (EMS) provide pre-hospital medical care and represent an important part of the rescue chain. The paramedic and physician’s work is characterized by regular day-to-day services as well as extraordinary missions within mass casualty incidents (MCIs). For several reasons, accessing, recording and communicating operational data are important tasks in any scenario of urgen...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To describe the incidence and epidemiology of major incidents occurring in Britain over the past 28 years. METHODS Major incidents were identified through a MEDLINE search, a hand search of journals and government reports at the Home Office Emergency Planning College, newspaper reports, a postal survey of ambulance emergency planning officers, and through requests for informa...

BACKGROUND To assess the pattern of mass casualty incidents managed at our hospital over the last eight years, and evolve a differentiating classification based on this pattern. A combination of retrospective and prospective assessment was made. MATERIAL AND METHODS All patients receiving injuries in mass casualty incidents and managed at our hospital. Patients with an injury severity score a...

the currently reactor wreckage in fukushima raised the following important questions: is our knowledge of the possible dangers of ionizing radiation sufficient to warrant special action? what is the role of the medical community in technical radiation accidents from windscale to fukushima? what is the role of the medical community in terrorist radiation attacks? are we prepared for those challe...

The Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a workshop at the request of the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS) that brought together a range of stakeholders to broadly identify and confront gaps in rural infrastructure that challenge mass casualty incident (MCI) response and potential mechanisms to...

In some circumstances, burn care must be delivered in a simple manner without the luxury of modern resources. Such circumstances include care in low- and middle-income countries, war zones, and mass casualty incidents. Triage decisions need to be made carefully, allowing the focus of limited personnel and equipment on those most likely to survive. Simple techniques can be used to help many burn...