• Philipp Fischer, Karoush Kabir, Oliver Weber, Dieter C Wirtz, Hermann Bail, Steffen Ruchholtz, Mickey Stein, and Christof Burger.
• Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. ph.fischer@gmx.de.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg S. 2008 Oct 1;34(5):443.

ObjectiveParamedics and physicians are important components of our emergency medical system. To date, no survey has been carried out assessing physicians and paramedics regarding their preparedness for a mass casualty incident (MCI) resulting from a terrorist attack in Germany. The aim of this study was to assess the current state of preparedness of emergency physicians and paramedics for an MCI.Materials And MethodsUsing an online questionnaire, we interviewed 1,707 emergency physicians and paramedics in Germany. The replies were analyzed statistically with the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and the Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test.ResultsIn all, 95% of the emergency physicians and paramedics knew their area of responsibility in the case of an MCI. However, 45% of them were unaware of injury patterns and treatment strategies in patients following nuclear, chemical or biological contamination. Of the interviewed emergency physicians and paramedics, 97% asked for further specific training for MCI/terrorism attacks.ConclusionsEmergency physicians and paramedics are still insufficiently prepared for nuclear, chemical, and biological as well as conventional terrorism attacks. The emergency training of emergency physicians and paramedics must be modified to accommodate the increased risk of catastrophes and terrorist attacks.

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