Multiple casualty terror events: the anesthesiologist's perspective

Abstract

In a 28-mo period 14 multiple-casualty terror events occurred in Jerusalem, challenging the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine of the city's sole Level 1 trauma center. We performed a retrospective review of the response of the department to evaluate staff activities, resource use (emergency department, operating rooms, and intensive care unit [ICU]), and patient flow. A total of 1062 people were injured in the 14 multi-casualty terror incidents. The emergency department treated 355 victims; 108 of them were hospitalized, and 58 underwent surgery during the first 8 h. Only two surgeries were performed during the first hour, and the average time to the first surgery was 124 min. Fifty-one patients were admitted to the ICU an average of 5.5 h after the terror event. After a terrorist act, multiple, simultaneous efforts were required of the anesthesiology department, including taking part in the initial resuscitation in the emergency department, anesthetizing victims for surgery and angiographies, and caring for them in the recovery room and ICU. Therefore, anesthesiology departments are greatly impacted by such events and must plan for them to maximize the use of available personnel and to have the appropriate equipment and supplies available.

Implications: Anesthesiologists provide essential care to patients injured in terror events, from the initial resuscitation through therapeutic/diagnostic procedures and surgeries. Operational issues faced by a department of anesthesiology during the initial 8 h after terrorist actions were examined. Multiple, and often parallel, efforts were required of the department.