Tag Archives: mass casualty incidents

Going the Full Circle: Upgrading the Patient Field Chart and Tag for Electronic Mass Casualty Incidents Solutions in Romania

Adrian Stănescu1, Sanda Maria Copotoiu2, Cristian Marius Boeriu3

1. Sibiu Clinical Pediatric Hospital, Sibiu, Romania
2. University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureş, Târgu Mureș Clinical Emergency County Hospital, Târgu Mureş, Romania
3. University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureş, Romania

DOI: 10.2478/amma-2018-0025

Objective: Mass casualty incidents and disasters require functional and efficient patient data management systems, as well as smart interconnections with patient tracking applications. Various initiatives developed and tested patient field charts for large-scale events but there is no one definite general format accepted. The current research proposes an upgraded model of the official patient field chart issued by the Romanian Department for Emergency Situations in 2015 to be used for large-scale events.
Measures: An upgraded model is created after a thorough content analysis, physical analysis, design upgrade and optimization process. Differences between the official and the upgraded model are measured and compared, and statistical computations are carried out.
Results: The main distinctive features of the patient field chart are dynamic triage, unique code identification, QR visual codes, wireless tags and irreversible clear contamination status highlighting. The upgrade process results in almost doubling the available active area without the need to change the document size format of the product. Visual elements and features are included to optimize operation workflow.
Conclusions: The upgraded model offers a variety of improvements for both the overall rescue effort as well as the end user of the product. It allows for previously unavailable features like unlimited dynamic triage and enables the use of electronic management solutions.

Keywords: , , , ,
Full text: PDF

Mass Casualty Incidents and Disasters Participation in Real versus Simulated Events in Romania

Stănescu Adrian*, Boeriu Cristian, Copotoiu Sanda-Maria

University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tirgu Mures, Tirgu Mures, Romania

DOI: 10.1515/amma-2015-0092

Background: 
The current study outlines some of the main particularities of both real and simulated mass casualty incidents (MCI) and disasters in Romania as reported by medical and paramedical participating personnel.
Methods:
 A non-profit organization in Romania trained 1250 doctors, nurses and paramedics for proper MCI interventions through a dedicated programme for the last part of the year 2013. Half a year later, an email with a unique link to an online questionnaire was sent to each participant to assess their opinion over the participation on real or already simulated MCI or disasters. The questionnaire consisted of 25 specific topics, out of which only a fraction were considered for the current study.
 Results: 
Out of all participants, 145 doctors, 184 nurses and 115 paramedics provided valid answers, totaling 444 responders. Most of the participants were satisfied with the information about the location and type of the incident they would respond to. The amplitude of a given event is generally well anticipated under simulation conditions as compared to real events, where the amplitude tends to be higher rather than lower than expected (p=0.0082). About three quarters of participants under real or simulated events repeated or demanded repeating the information trafficked through mobile radios, almost a quarter misinterpreted the information, and almost a half reported delayed operations due to miscommunication. Conclusions: 
Simulations are a proper method of communication evaluation for mass casualty incidents and disasters, which can also stress the common communication issues encountered during a real MCI unfolding.

Keywords: , , , ,
Full text: PDF