European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Whenever a mass casualty incident (MCI) occurs, it is essential to anticipate the final number of victims to dispatch the adequate number of ambulances. In France, the custom is to multiply the initial number of prehospital victims by 2-4 to predict the final number. However, no one has yet validated this multiplying factor (MF) as a predictive tool. We aimed to build a statistical model to predict the final number of victims from their initial count. ⋯ The MF seems to be an appealing decision-making tool to anticipate the need for ambulance resources. In explosive MCIs, we recommend multiplying T1 by 1.4 to estimate final count and the need for supplementary advanced life support teams.
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To assess the prevalence, characteristics and prognosis of overt disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in adult emergency department (ED) patients and identify markers of poor outcome. ⋯ Overt DIC is a rare but underdiagnosed event in ED patients. In this collective, cardiac arrest is a dominant cause of DIC presenting with a fibrinolytic phenotype. The degree of hypofibrinogenaemia on admission strongly and linearly predicted early death.