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(P2-9) Patient Allocation to Hospitals During Mass-Casualty Incidents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2011

K. Ruettger
Affiliation:
FB 40.70 - Brandschutz, Rettungsdienst Und Katastrophenschutz, Bad Homburg, Germany
W. Lenz
Affiliation:
Gefahrenabwehrzentrum, Gelnhausen, Germany
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Abstract

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Due to the limited resources of specialized hospital departments, the allocation of patients to different hospitals according to the severity of their condition is an extraordinarily complex and time-critical problem. The emergency capacity was determined for all medical centers (n = 135) in the State of Hessen, for patients of the various hospitalization triage categories (red, yellow, green), for normal working hours, for weekends and nights, including logistic specifications of a potential helicopter landing. This data was entered into a state register. Using the data from the “acute-care-register”, a Ticket System was developed that allows the operations management to assign patients according to the severity of their condition, urgency and necessary specialization (e.g., neurosurgery, ophthalmology, pediatrics) to a hospital without exceeding the admission and/or treatment capacity of the hospital/facility. During a non-critical period, the order of allocations depending on the distance of the clinic to the site of the emergency is planned in advance so that no further modifications are necessary during the acute intervention phase of an emergency response. Additional notification of hospital capacities for severe casualties provided during the emergency response can be easily and immediately supplemented. Due to the relatively low frequency of such emergency responses, a cost-effective concept that is easily adaptable to the respective fields of application has been discovered. The system is a sticker set customized for the respective rescue teams. The sets will be carried permanently in the rescue equipment by the organization manager of the rescue service team. The equipment is not dependent on electronic components. The cost per sticker set is approximately US$50. Keeping track of the patient allocations is assured.

Type
Poster Abstracts 17th World Congress for Disaster and Emergency Medicine
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2011