Mass casualty management for radiological and nuclear incidents

The decisions required for the provision of an appropriate medical response to a radiological or nuclear incident range from the traditional major incident response through to a compromised response due to a catastrophic event. A summary of the most likely clinical findings in the first 12-24 hours is given in Table 4. From these findings, appropriate management based upon the needs and available resources can be planned. This includes triage for surgery and the use of the expectant (T4) triage category.