|
|||||
|
|
A national system for disseminating information on victims during mass casualty incidents |
|
| Authors: | Bruria Adini Kobi Peleg Robert Cohen Danny Laor |
| Affiliation: | 1. Senior Consultant at the Emergency and Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Health, and Academic Coordinator at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel;2. Director of the National Center for Trauma Research, The Gertner Institute, and Chair of the Master Program for Emergency and Disaster Management, School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University, Israel;3. Researcher at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel;4. Director of the Emergency and Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Health, Israel. |
| Abstract: | Immediate provision of information to the public is vital during mass casualty incidents (MCIs). Failure to implement rapidly a communication response system may result in the public overwhelming hospitals. This paper shares Israel's experience in developing and maintaining a national system for supplying information on the location and identification of casualties. ADAM interfaces online with hospitals' patient registration systems, and allows for immediate electronic transfer of designated data. The system permits information centres to access information on which hospital has admitted identified and unidentified casualties. The latter are photographed at the entrance to the hospital and the picture is stored in ADAM. The system enables hospitals and municipalities to ensure immediate availability and accessibility of information and thus (in our belief) mitigate the concerns of family and friends. Use of such an interface system is recommended as an integral element of emergency preparedness. |
| Keywords: | communication emergency preparedness information systems mass casualty incidents |