American journal of disaster medicine
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The global war on terror has created the need for urgent long-range aeromedical transport of severely wounded service members over distances of several thousand miles from Afghanistan or Iraq to the United States. This need is met by specialized medical transport teams such as US Air Force Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT) or by the US Army Burn Flight Team (BFT). ⋯ Over the last year, we have evolved and standardized an emergency equipment bag designed to provide the supplies necessary for initial management of emergencies that occur during flight and ground transport. This or a similar emergency kit would be useful for inter or intrahospital transport of critically ill or injured civilian patients, or for physicians who respond to civil emergencies, such as members of Disaster Medical Assistance Teams.
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Explosions and bombings remain the most common deliberate cause of disasters involving large numbers of casualties, especially as instruments of terrorism. These attacks are virtually always directed against the untrained and unsuspecting civilian population. ⋯ It needs to be realized that physicians should never be placed in a position of individually deciding to deny treatment to patients without the guidance of a policy or protocol. Emergency physicians, however, may easily find themselves in a situation in which the demand for resources clearly exceeds supply and for this reason, emergency care providers, personnel, hospital administrators, religious leaders, and medical ethics committees need to engage in bioethical decision-making.