Citation

Berger FH, Körner M, Bernstein MP, Sodickson AD, Beenen LF, McLaughlin PD, Kool DR, Bilow RM. Br. J. Radiol. 2016; 89(1061): 20150984.

Affiliation

Diagnostic & Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Medical School, Houston (TX), USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, British Institute of Radiology)

DOI

10.1259/bjr.20150984

PMID

26781837

Abstract

In the setting of mass casualty incidents (MCI), hospitals need to divert from normal routine to delivering the best possible care to the largest number of victims. This should be accomplished by activating an established hospital Disaster Management Plan (DMP) known to all staff through prior training drills. Over the recent decades, imaging has increasingly been used to evaluate critically ill patients. It can be used as well to increase the accuracy of triaging MCI victims, since over-triage and under-triage can severely impact resource availability and mortality rates. This manuscript emphasizes the importance of including the radiology department in hospital preparations for an MCI, and highlights factors expected to influence performance during hospital DMP activation including issues pertinent to effective simulation, such as establishing proper learning objectives. After action reviews including performance evaluation and debriefing on issues is invaluable following simulation drills and DMP activation, in order to improve subsequent preparedness. Historically, most hospital DMPs have not adequately included radiology department operations and they have not or to little extent been integrated in the DMP activation simulation. This manuscript aims to increase awareness of the need for radiology department engagement in order to increase radiology department preparedness for DMP activation after an MCI occurs.

Language: en