Safety
Mass Casualty Simulation Will Better Prepare Chicago Hospitals’ Emergency Personnel
By
May 15, 2008 - 11:23:36 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - CHICAGO – Physicians and nurses from hospitals throughout the Chicago area will experience the chaos, confusion and stress of treating a large group of severely injured patients all at once in a unique simulation lab training program at Rush University Medical Center on Wednesday, May 28.

The goal of the program is to prepare emergency department personnel from hospitals, large and small, on managing an influx of victims brought in from mass casualty events.

The workshop, which will be held in the Rush University Simulation Laboratory, will focus on creating a realistic, potential situation where a trolley full of passengers explodes and the glass windows of the trolley are blown out as it pulls up to the entrance of Navy Pier on Labor Day. There will be numerous, life-sized computer-controlled ‘virtual patients’ set up to simulate the types of patient cases the trainees may need to triage during a mass casualty scenario.

These simulators have life-like human functions that enhance training. They are capable of simulating any possible human medical or traumatic emergency such as loss of limb from a blast injury, penetrating wounds due to the flying glass, open head injuries, penetrating leg injuries, blunt injuries to the head, chest and abdomen, and much more.

All 12 simulators will be programmed individually to survive or expire based on the timely interventions of the participants and the severity of the injuries incurred.

“The purpose of the exercise is to overwhelm the emergency department personnel with the quantity and severity of casualties with limited time and resources,” said Dr. Phillip A. Jacobson, pediatric critical care physician, Rush University Medical Center.

A volunteer will be assigned to each ‘virtual patient’ to observe participants and take notes if certain critical actions were not performed within a certain amount of time. After the exercise, there will be a debriefing session and performance evaluation where participants will discuss each scenario, patient outcomes and review clinical operations issues they need to be aware of in a real emergency situation.

“Unfortunately, we have seen natural, intentional and unintentional mass casualty incidents in recent times. Our goal is to better prepare the city’s emergency personnel so that when a disaster happens, we can improve the chances of saving more lives,” said Jacobson.

Rush and the John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County were named Bioterrorism Preparedness Centers of Excellence by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) in October 2002. The two Centers of Excellence receive government bioterrorism preparedness funds to improve hospital capabilities in preparedness planning, disease detection and surveillance, infection control, communications, collaborations, education and training and more.

Rush will break ground this summer on its new hospital that will include the McCormick Tribune Center for Advanced Emergency Response, a unique facility that will bring an unprecedented level of preparedness to Chicago and the region in the event of immediate and widespread emergencies such as pandemics or bioterrorism. The Center’s innovative features include decontamination facilities, surge capabilities and a surveillance system that will enable Rush to better respond to biological, chemical and other catastrophes.

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