Quality Tools: Predicting Casualty Severity

The CDC has a quality tool for “Predicting Casualty Severity & Hospital Capacity” that helps hospitals decide whether or not they are ready for an attack. It was interesting to learn that most attacks on American involve conventional weapons and that 1/3 of the acute casualties are critical and 2/3 are treated and released. This quality tool would be useful for any hospital to consider when developing their disaster plans. For example, it mentioned determining your hospital’s number of ORs and the capacity of the radiology department. These would be vital areas in the event of an attack. If you find your hospital does not have the capacity needed you should make arrangements with other facilities to transfer patients too.


Another interesting aspect, were the recommended changes made to EMTALA to improve mass casualty management in the event of an emergency. Some of the recommendations included, ““the use of community based EMS protocols is not a violation of EMTALA,” and “in the event of bioterrorism, or the threat of bioterrorism, EMTALA does not apply to those hospitals directly affect.” These seem logical because you do not want facilities worried about breaking laws when peoples’ lives are at stake.

In today’s society, it is important to be prepared for the unexpected. This tool can help provide some guidance on getting prepared.

http://www.cdc.gov/print.do?url=http://www.bt.cdc.gov/masscasualties/capacity.asp