Preparedness for treating victims of terrorist attacks in Australia: Learning from recent military experience

Jeffrey V Rosenfeld; Biswadev Mitra; De Villiers Smit; Mark C Fitzgerald; Benjamin Butson; Michael Stephenson; Michael C Reade

doi:10.1111/1742-6723.13091

Preparedness for treating victims of terrorist attacks in Australia: Learning from recent military experience

Emerg Med Australas. 2018 Oct;30(5):722-724. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13091. Epub 2018 May 9.

Authors

Jeffrey V Rosenfeld^{1

2

3}, Biswadev Mitra^{4

5

6}, De Villiers Smit^{4

7

8

9}, Mark C Fitzgerald^{10

11

12}, Benjamin Butson^{13

14

15}, Michael Stephenson^{9

16

17}, Michael C Reade^{18

19

20}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Surgery, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
³ Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
⁴ Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Clinical Research, National Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ Critical Care Research, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Alfred Health Emergency, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁸ Emergency Medicine Program, National Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹⁰ The Alfred, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹¹ National Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹² Department of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹³ Townsville Hospital, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁴ Australian Defence Force Medical Specialist Program, 2nd General Health Battalion, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁵ LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹⁷ Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹⁸ Australian Defence Force Professor of Military Medicine and Surgery, The University of Queensland and Joint Health Command, Australian Defence Force, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
¹⁹ 2nd General Health Battalion Australian Army, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
²⁰ Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 29740959
DOI: 10.1111/1742-6723.13091

Abstract

The Australian health system is generally well prepared for mass casualty events. Fortunately, there have been very few terrorist attacks and these have involved low numbers of casualties compared with events overseas. Nevertheless, Australian health professionals need to be prepared to treat mass casualties with blast and ballistic trauma. The US military and its allies including Australia have had extensive experience with mass casualty management in the Middle East and Afghanistan wars for more than a decade. To define their experience, they developed the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Guidelines that have saved many lives. It is now prudent to incorporate this knowledge and experience into civilian practice in Australia.

Keywords: explosions; mass casualty incidents; terrorism.

© 2018 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

MeSH terms

Australia
Civil Defense / methods*
Civil Defense / trends
Humans
Mass Casualty Incidents
Military Medicine / methods*
Terrorism / psychology
Veterans / psychology*