(A103) Understanding Terror Medicine

Abstract

The term terror medicine emerged early in the 21st century to describe medical issues associated with terrorist events. While related to emergency and disaster medicine, the field also includes several features that are specific to terrorist attacks. The Israeli healthcare experience as related to terrorist attacks during the intifada (2000–2006), provides a base for comparison to responses elsewhere including to events in Oklahoma City (1995), Madrid (2004), and London (2005). Terror medicine covers four broad areas. First is preparedness, which encompasses hospital surge capacity, training and exercises, and the stockpiling of medical provisions for conventional and non-conventional attacks. Second is incident management, which includes protocols for on-site care, triage, distribution of victims to hospitals, and hospital-receiving procedures. Third is mechanism of injuries and responses, which ranges from determining treatment priorities in someone with multiple injuries (burn, crush, ruptured organs, etc.) to dealing with biological, chemical, or radiological exposures. Fourth, psychological consequences, involves care for acute and long-term emotional effects of a terrorist attack. Growing interest in terror medicine has been manifested in recent publications and conferences. (Egs., SC Shapira and LA Cole, Terror Medicine: Birth of a Discipline, J Homeland Security and Emerg Management, Vol. 3, No. 2 [2006] http://www.terrormedicine.com/publications_files/Terrormedicine.pdfAC; SC Shapira, JS Hammond, LA Cole, eds., Essentials of Terror Medicine, NY: Springer [2009]; Symposiums on Terror Medicine and Security, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey [Newark, NJ, July 2009; Montclair, NJ, Sept. 2010]). Efforts to prevent terrorist attacks should be among a society's highest priorities. No less important are the requirements to prepare for, respond to, and recover from these events. The more that individuals and institutions become familiar with the essentials of terror medicine, the greater the protection they can provide to others.