EMS Incident Command

Medical incident command falls under the medical branch of the operations section of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and provides a conceptual framework for the management of the medical components of disasters and multiple or mass casualty incidents (MCIs). The goal of mass casualty management is to apply available medical resources most effectively to mass casualty incident victims to do the "most good for the most people." The medical incident command structure provides a clear and concise method for how to organize resources for such an incident. Organizationally, an incident commander is responsible for the overall management of the incident. Under the incident commander falls several roles, including operations, planning, logistics, and finance. The operations role oversees the medical branch of an incident. The purpose of the medical branch is to ensure effective triage, on-scene treatment, and transport of MCI victims to appropriate facilities and definitive care. The medical incident command framework is designed to be flexible and scalable and can be applied to incidents with 5, 50, 500, or more patients in need of care.