Recommendations for burns care in mass casualty incidents: WHO Emergency Medical Teams Technical Working Group on Burns (WHO TWGB) 2017-2020
•Burn mass casualty events can and do occur across the globe, often in environments where health systems are already fragile and under resourced.•The World Health Organisation Emergency Medical Teams initiative was developed to improve local, national and international response to disasters.•Clear,...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Burns 2021-03, Vol.47 (2), p.349-370 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | •Burn mass casualty events can and do occur across the globe, often in environments where health systems are already fragile and under resourced.•The World Health Organisation Emergency Medical Teams initiative was developed to improve local, national and international response to disasters.•Clear, simple recommendations can help planning bodies and burn service providers with establishing a timely and appropriate response to burn mass casualty events.•The following recommendations are based on extensive literature review, expert opinion and feedback from frontline staff involved in providing a response.•These recommendations cover the initial response from the scene to the first receiving hospital and referral to specialist services, including clinical and logistical aspects.
Health and logistical needs in emergencies have been well recognised. The last 7 years has witnessed improved professionalisation and standardisation of care for disaster affected communities – led in part by the World Health Organisation Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative.
Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) resulting in burn injuries present unique challenges. Burn management benefits from specialist skills, expert knowledge, and timely availability of specialist resources. With burn MCIs occurring globally, and wide variance in existing burn care capacity, the need to strengthen burn care capability is evident. Although some high-income countries have well-established disaster management plans, including burn specific plans, many do not – the majority of countries where burn mass casualty events occur are without such established plans. Developing globally relevant recommendations is a first step in addressing this deficit and increasing preparedness to deal with such disasters.
Global burn experts were invited to a succession of Technical Working Group on burns (TWGB) meetings to:
1) review literature on burn care in MCIs; and
2) define and agree on recommendations for burn care in MCIs.
The resulting 22 recommendations provide a framework to guide national and international specialist burn teams and health facilities to support delivery of safe care and improved outcomes to burn patients in MCIs. |
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ISSN: | 0305-4179 1879-1409 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.burns.2020.07.001 |