American journal of disaster medicine
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An active shooter in the emergency department (ED) presents a significant danger to employees, patients, and visitors. Very little education on this topic exists for healthcare workers. Using didactic and scenario-based training methods, the authors constructed a comprehensive training experience to better prepare healthcare workers for an active shooter. ⋯ Didactic lectures, combined with case-based scenarios, are an effective method to teach healthcare workers how to best manage an active shooter incident.
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As the complexity and frequency of law enforcement-extended operations incidents continue to increase, so do the opportunities for adverse health and well-being impacts on the responding officers. These types of clinical encounters have not been well characterized nor have the medical response strategies which have been developed to effectively manage these encounters been well described. The purpose of this article is to provide a descriptive epidemiology of the clinical encounters reported during extended law enforcement operations, as well as to describe a best practices approach for their effective management. ⋯ A wide range of health problems are reported by extended law enforcement operations personnel. Timely and effective treatment of these problems can help ensure that the broader operations mission is not compromised. An appropriate operational strategy for managing health complaints reported during extended operations involves the deployment of a well-trained medical support team using the core concepts of tactical emergency medical support.
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Delineation of the advantages and problems related to the use of forward-site operating room-, Intensive Care Unit (ICU)-, radiography-, and mass casualty-enabled disaster vehicles for site evacuation, patient stabilization, and triage. ⋯ The successful utilization of disaster vehicles requires seamless cooperation between the hospital staffing the vehicles and the ambulance service deploying them. They are particularly effective during preplanned deployments to high-risk situations. These vehicles also potentially provide self-sufficient refuges for forward teams in hostile environments.
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The Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability from Mass Casualty Shooting Events was formed to make recommendations to improve survival from intentional mass casualty incidents. This article describes the development of the Hartford Consensus and the process used to disseminate and implement its findings. ⋯ The Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability from Mass Casualty Shooting Events was successful in stimulating policy to bring about change. Training and resources including tourniquets and hemostatic dressing are being directed to help ameliorate the unfortunate reality of intentional mass injury.