Terrorist attacks impact on emergency departments

Successfully performed terrorists’ attacks have proved that no country could consider its population secured. What is more, the records are depicting shift into the terrorists tactics – nowadays the desired outcome of the attacks is to inflict as much as possible casualties, as well as an increase in the number of coordinated simultaneous attacks has been recorded. These changes are leading to increased number of casualties requiring emergency medical help provision. The aim of this study is to analyze the successful terrorist attack impact on the casualties’ reception and admittance in the hospitals’ emergency departments. By the means of descriptive and comparative methods the terrorist attacks casualties medical support particularities are analyzed. Cluster analysis is applied in order to group the required changes into the emergency departments work organization. Expected increased number of patients seeking emergency medical assistance requires enforcement both with human force and medical equipment. Particular considerations are related to the specialized medical support – surgical surge required by the main types of attacks performed. The probabilities of CBRN contamination or terrorists’ admittance along with the casualties are demanding changes into the triage place and procedures. Based on the results of the performed analyses is concluded that contemporary trends in the terrorists’ attacks are triggering changes into the emergency departments’ work organization and standard operating procedures.