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Quality Management Tool for Mass Casualty Emergency Responses and Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Marcus S. Villarreal
Marcus S. Villarreal*
Affiliation:
Occupational Health Centers, Houston, Texas
*
FACEP Occupational Health Centers8505 Gulf Freeway, Suite F Houston, Texas 77017USA
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Abstract

Introduction and background:

Quality management (QM) principles generally have not been applied to multi-casualty and disaster situations. Quality management incorporates quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI) supported by a management information system (MIS). Since responders to disasters and multi-casualty incidents generally operate on standing orders and/or protocols, the character of the responses lends itself to quality management methods. Standards and indicators of performance readily can be developed for these situations.

Objectives:

1) to format disaster medical records as data collection instruments; 2) to develop appropriate tools that are easy to use for rapid assessments; 3) to develop a mechanism for determination of causes of injuries; and 4) to develop methods to: a) track patients; b) document response and recovery; andc) document the circumstances associated with the event.

Methods:

Model tools using checklists and short, fill-in answers are provided. These tools are designed to be incorporated into the trauma or EMS registries. Emergency medical technicians, nurses, physicians, and medical students scored the same disaster scenario for the functional areas of calling the state of the disaster, triage, and field stabilization.

Results:

Testing indicated that the checklists are completed in less than one minute, and produce objective data per patient in each functional area evaluated. In one instance, data were compiled for 38 patients from one bus accident in less than 10 minutes. The same data were reproduced, without variation, in the same amount of time, by three different providers of varied professional backgrounds.

Keywords

causes of injurychecklistscommunicationsdata collectiondisastersdisaster earthquakeoperationsdisaster statusE-codesemergency medical servicesemergency medical techniciansmanagement information systemnursesphysiciansquality assurancequality improvementquality managementsearch and rescuescreeningstandardstriage
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 27 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1997

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