Hospitals & Mass Shootings: What to do…….
September 23rd, 2018“…..Here are four key concepts hospital officials are focusing on when preparing to treat mass shooting victims:
1. Expand the emergency department’s capacity quickly. After a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas last year, a Federal Emergency Management Agency report found local civilians significantly helped in transporting victims from the shooting area……Hospital staff placed victims in hallways and in available rooms outside the ED, including the pediatric ED and post-anesthesia care unit.
2. Mobilize physicians, nurses and first responders. After learning how severe the Las Vegas attack was, Sunrise officials contacted dozens of additional physicians and nurses to respond to the facility. Before shooting victims arrived, the ED had four physicians and several nurse practitioners/physician assistants ready.
Within hours, over 100 physicians and about 200 nurses, NPs and other support staff were ready to treat victims…. Hospital officials also brought paramedics and emergency medical technicians from local fire departments to help assess patients.
3. Create a triage system to promptly evaluate incoming victims. When responding to a mass shooting, it is critical to determine which patients need to immediately go to the operating room and who can wait…..
Putting a physician exclusively on triage duty and assessing victims using the START method, or “simple triage and rapid treatment,” could be effective in mass shooting responses…..
4. Stop patients’ bleeding as soon as possible. Nurses, support staff and civilians can save patients using tourniquets, applying direct pressure to a wound or packing it with gauze or other material…..Teaching civilians how to help stop bleeding is common during mass casualty incidents, and the ACOEP hopes to see it become a routine part of medical providers’ response, Dr. Davis said. “This is a major aspect of ACOEP’s MCI training,” she said. “We have to train physicians to teach bystanders effectively and quickly how to provide care.”…….”