The Management of Mass Casualties in Case of Disasters

Abstract

The problems faced by the immediate management of dealing with a mass influx of victims refer mainly to politrauma and severe pathology and their consequences on increasing intensive care needs in the context of a large and sudden influx of victims in an infrastructure potentially affected by severe logistics and often unprepared. Emergency plans should be well designed and then tested as together with the immediate response plans they constitute the only solution to deal with a situation where faced with a lack of personnel and overall logistical shortcomings. WHO and DHA continue to be the best organisations that provide advice based on evidence and previous experience in international health issues and disaster management and humanitarian issues. Doctors, who are trained in disaster medicine, should achieve an adequate level of education and training in the unique principles and practices of the medical management of disaster and of massive inflows of victims and to play a key role in this area. Key words: mass influx of victims, disaster, management