KMID : 0191120160310030449
|
|
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2016 Volume.31 No. 3 p.449 ~ p.456
|
|
Epidemiology of Emergency Medical Services-Assessed Mass Casualty Incidents according to Causes
|
|
Park Ju-Ok
Shin Sang-Do Song Kyoung-Jun Hong Ki-Jeong Kim Jun-geun
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
To effectively mitigate and reduce the burden of mass casualty incidents (MCIs), preparedness measures should be based on MCIs¡¯ epidemiological characteristics. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of emergency medical services (EMS)-assessed MCIs from multiple areas according to cause. Therefore, we extracted the records of all MCIs that involved ¡Ã 6 patients from an EMS database. All patients involved in EMS-assessed MCIs from six areas were eligible for this study, and their prehospital and hospital records were reviewed for a 1-year period. The EMS-assessed MCIs were categorized as being caused by fire accidents (FAs), road traffic accidents (RTAs), chemical and biological agents (CBs), and other mechanical causes (MECHs). A total of 362 EMS-assessed MCIs were identified, with a crude incidence rate of 0.6?5.0/100,000 population. Among these MCIs, 322 were caused by RTAs. The MCIs involved 2,578 patients, and 54.3% of these patients were women. We observed that the most common mechanism of injury varied according to MCI cause, and that a higher number of patients per incident was associated with a longer prehospital time. The highest hospital admission rate was observed for CBs (16 patients, 55.2%), and most patients in RTAs and MECHs experienced non-severe injuries. The total number of deaths was 32 (1.2%). An EMS-assessed MCI database was established using the EMS database and medical records review. Our findings indicate that RTA MCIs create a burden on EMS and emergency department resources, although CB MCIs create a burden on hospitals¡¯ resources.
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
Wound and Injuries, Mass Casualty Incidents, Epidemiology
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
|
|