Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Level of Standards
Near Normal
Medical Care
Standards
Total System/
Standards
Alteration
Normal Medical Care
Standards
Focus on Key
Lifesaving Care
(alternate sites of
care, use of atypical
devices, expanded
scope of practice)
(cannot offer
everyone highest
level of care but can
offer key lifesaving
care)
(questions asked
about who gets
access to what
resources)
Stage of Disease
in the Population
Pre-release of agent
Release responses
Symptomatic
Illness
Death
Figure G.4
How Health and Medical Care Standards May Have to Be Modified in a Mass-Casualty Event by Stage of Disease in
the Population. (Source: Dr. Michael Allswede, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC Health System)
Principle 1: In planning for a mass
casualty event, the aim should be to keep
the health care system functioning and to
deliver acceptable quality of care to
preserve as many lives as possible.
Adhering to this principle will involve:
a high priority on infection control measures,
and other containment processes.
Principle 2: Planning a health and medical
response to a mass casualty event must be
comprehensive, community-based, and
coordinated at the regional level.
Effective planning should:
•
•
Allocating scarce resources in order to save the
most lives.
Be done at the facility level. However, facility-
level planning alone is not sufficient.
•
Developing a basis for the allocation of
resources that is fair, open, transparent,
accountable, and well understood by both
professionals and the public.
•
Integrate facility-level planning into a regional
systems approach.
•
Ensuring, to the possible extent, a safe envi-
ronment for the provision of care, and placing
•
Involve a broad array of public and private
community stakeholders.
3
3
These stakeholders include: emergency management agencies, police and fire departments, emergency medical services, ambulance
and other transport providers, health departments and community health centers, hospitals, ambulatory care centers, private physician
offices, medical examiners, nursing homes, health centers, mental health services, morticians, and others. They also may include
schools, churches, hotels, businesses, and other organizations that can provide space for alternate care facilities and cooperate in the
preplanning required to activate such sites.
