• Gerhard Achatz, Benedikt Friemert, Heiko Trentzsch, Marzellus Hofmann, Markus Blätzinger, Simone Hinz-Bauer, Thomas Paffrath, Axel Franke, Dan Bieler, and Deployment, Disaster, Tactical Surgery Working Group of the German Trauma Society.
• Department for Trauma Surgery and Orthopaedics, Reconstructive and Septic Surgery, Sportstraumatology, German Armed Forces Hospital Ulm, Oberer Eselsberg 40, 89081, Ulm, Germany. GerhardAchatz@Bundeswehr.org.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2020 Aug 1; 46 (4): 717-724.

BackgroundMass-casualty incidents, especially in connection with a terrorist attack, can quickly overwhelm the capacities of receiving hospitals. After a mass-casualty terrorist incident, patients often arrive at hospitals in an uncoordinated manner on account of the chaotic situation. Many patients leave the incident site and refer themselves to hospitals independently. Hospital decision makers must, therefore, be able to make quick decisions on diagnostic procedures and treatment for every individual patient and, at the same time, take into consideration available resources. They require decision criteria and aids to properly manage such scenarios.Materials And MethodsAs part of the preparation of the Terror and Disaster Surgical Care (TDSC®) course, we developed a tabletop simulation game based on a comprehensive and structured review of the literature, the opinions of renowned experts, and the results of specialised conferences. This tabletop simulation game is played four times during each TDSC® course.ResultsOur analysis involved 264 of 465 course-participants from 2017 to 2019 and showed that the overall evaluation was very good and that participants grew more positive about the tabletop simulation game during the course. The tabletop simulation game received an average rating of 1.53 (1 = very good, 6 = insufficient). This rating remained consistently high over 19 courses.DiscussionHospital decision makers must respond to mass-casualty terrorist situations in a defined tactical and strategic approach. Rapid decisions must be made that take into account the special situation and available capacities and resources to maximise the number of survivors even though individual patients may have a poorer functional outcome. As part of the TDSC® course, the tabletop simulation game teaches high-level decision-making algorithms and prepares key hospital personnel for such situations.

23 keywords...

hide…