Citation

Hojman H, Rattan R, Osgood R, Bugaev N, Yao M. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-8.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery,Tufts Medical Center,Tufts University School of Medicine,Boston, MA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/dmp.2018.148

PMID

30857570

Abstract

Terrorist incidents that target hospitals magnify morbidity and mortality. Before a real or perceived terrorist mass casualty incident threatens a hospital and its providers, it is essential to have protocols in place to minimize damage to the infrastructure, morbidity, and mortality. In the years following the Boston Marathon bombings, much has been written about the heroic efforts of survivors and responders. Far less has been published about near misses due to lack of experience responding to a mass casualty incident resulting from terrorism. After an extensive review of the medical literature and published media in English, Spanish, and Hebrew, we were unable to identify a similar event. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported experience of a bomb threat caused evacuation of an emergency department in the United States while actively responding to multiple casualty terrorist incidents. We summarized the chronology of the events that led to a bomb threat being identified and the subsequent evacuation of the emergency department. We then reviewed the problematic nature of our response and described evidence-based policy changes based on data from health care, law enforcement, and counterterrorism. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;page 1 of 8).

Language: en

Keywords

evacuation; mass casualties; terrorist attack