Burn Mass Casualty Management: Lessons Learned

Extract

Successful management of a mass casualty situation involving 45 injured marines following a fire in Japan demonstrates the important principles of triage, patient movement, quality patient care, logistics, communication and medical direction.

Following the accident, the US Army Institute of Surgical Research assembled a burn team consisting of three surgeons, three nurses, one microbiologist and eleven clinical specialists (three of whom were inhalation therapy technicians) and the equipment and supplies necessary to treat and transport these patients. The US Air Force Military Airlift Command transported the team and equipment to Japan in a C–141 Starlifter Medevac plane and pre-positioned a second C–141 in Japan for the return flight. Additional ventilators and supplies were mobilized from Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines and Alaska.