Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
assignation of blame is placed on any provider.
A responsible service chief would arrange for
mutual aid coverage of district while he stands
his crew down for debriefing (both for CISD and
normal debriefing) and rest and relaxation. For
many services this may be accomplished in as
little as a single day or two. For larger services a
more thought out and organized approach may be
needed. This process can be planned for, just like
the rest of the disaster plan.
Long term psychological evaluation need to be
made available to staff, many times the effects of
a terrorist attack do not manifest until days, weeks
or more after the event. Some of these manifesta-
tions may need long term psychological care and
this should be provided to any EMS provider who
needs it.
Last, a final event debriefing should occur, sepa-
rate from the CISD debriefing. This debriefing
should include reviewing lessons learned from the
event and the plan for applying those lessons to
future EMS responses and into the overall emer-
gency response plan. By reflecting on all the
information gathered at an incident, from patients,
providers, department heads and municipal leaders,
we can learn about areas of the response that went
well and areas that did not work well. Consid-
ering that knowledge we can make changes plan
to address the shortcomings of the original plan.
This is not done to assign blame, but to prevent
loss of life decrease suffering in the future and to
learn from the experience.
b. Has there been a threat?
c. Is the caller anonymous?
d. Is the problem not well defined (i.e.,
Multiple people feeling ill, but no obvious
cause).
e. Are there multiple, non-trauma related
victims?
f. Are hazardous materials involved?
g. Are responders victims?
h. Has there been a secondary attack or
explosion?
•
If one of the answers to the above
is “Yes”—respond with heightened
awareness
•
If multiple answers are “Yes”—this
may be a terrorist incident
II. Make contact with law enforcement and the
fire department for coordination
a. Remember that scenes of terrorism are
federal crime scenes under the control of
the FBI
III. When approaching the scene:
a. Approach the scene cautiously, from
uphill, upwind, and upstream if possible.
b. Consider law enforcement escort.
c. Avoid choke points.
d. Designate escape routes.
e. Designate regrouping area.
•
A place for crews to meet if they get
separated.
f. Identify staging area
IV. Command considerations
a.
Implement incident command system,
assume command until relieved
Department of EMS Education, Hartford
Hospital—Terrorism Protocols
Draft—General Information
When dispatched to a call EMS providers should
have a high index of suspicion for terrorist events
[4]. When responding to the scene EMS providers
should ask the following, if any are present the
consider terrorism as a possible cause:
b.
Isolate the area and deny entry
i. This is one of the most important
things you can do to protect your-
self and the public. Do not allow
anyone other public safety access to
the scene.
c.
Identify/isolate/coral the victims
i. This is another of the most important things
you can do to protect yourself and the
public. Isolating the victims will prevent
them from contaminating other people and
I. Assess security
a.
Is the call at a target hazard (high profile
target) or a target event (mass gathering
of people).
