Back to Search
Start Over
Emergency radiology and mass casualty incidents—report of a mass casualty incident at a level 1 trauma center
- Source :
- Emergency Radiology. 24:47-53
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016.
-
Abstract
- The aims of this article are to describe the events of a recent mass casualty incident (MCI) at our level 1 trauma center and to describe the radiology response to the event. We also describe the findings and recommendations of our radiology department after-action review. An MCI activation was triggered after an amphibious military vehicle, repurposed for tourist activities, carrying 37 passengers, collided with a charter bus carrying 45 passengers on a busy highway bridge in Seattle, WA, USA. There were 4 deaths at the scene, and 51 patients were transferred to local hospitals following prehospital scene triage. Nineteen patients were transferred to our level 1 trauma center. Eighteen casualties arrived within 72 min. Sixteen arrived within 1 h of the first patient arrival, and 1 casualty was transferred 3 h later having initially been assessed at another hospital. Eighteen casualties (94.7 %) underwent diagnostic imaging in the emergency department. Of these 18 casualties, 15 had a trauma series (portable chest x-ray and x-ray of pelvis). Whole-body trauma computed tomography scans (WBCT) were performed on 15 casualties (78.9 %), 12 were immediate and performed during the initial active phase of the MCI, and 3 WBCTs were delayed. The initial 12 WBCTs were completed in 101 min. The mean number of radiographic studies performed per patient was 3 (range 1-8), and the total number of injuries detected was 88. The surge in imaging requirements during an MCI can be significant and exceed normal operating capacity. This report of our radiology experience during a recent MCI and subsequent after-action review serves to provide an example of how radiology capacity and workflow functioned during an MCI, in order to provide emergency radiologists and response planners with practical recommendations for implementation in the event of a future MCI.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Washington
medicine.medical_specialty
Contrast Media
Disaster Planning
Workflow
030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging
Patient arrival
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Trauma Centers
Emergency radiology
Active phase
Medical imaging
Humans
Mass Casualty Incidents
Medicine
Whole Body Imaging
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
business.industry
Trauma center
Accidents, Traffic
030208 emergency & critical care medicine
Emergency department
medicine.disease
Triage
Mass-casualty incident
Emergency medicine
Emergency Medicine
Wounds and Injuries
Female
Medical emergency
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14381435 and 10703004
- Volume :
- 24
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Emergency Radiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7415d7625493e42711f8fe1e6100de61
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-016-1441-y