Mass casualty tracking with air traffic control methodologies.

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Healthcare Systems Engineering
• Patient Tracking Systems

Background:

• Mass casualty incidents pose significant challenges for patient tracking and data management.
• Traditional methods like paper and clipboard tracking are prone to errors and inefficiencies.
• An intrahospital casualty throughput system, adapted from air traffic control (ATC) procedures, was developed for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an ATC-inspired patient tracking system compared to traditional methods.
• To assess the impact of the ATC model on patient data accuracy and accountability during mass casualty exercises.
• To determine user preference and ease of use for the novel tracking system.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 18 four-hour mass casualty scenarios with 5 to 30 mock casualties.
• Alternating experimental and control groups to minimize training effects.
• Analysis of critical patient data errors using Mann-Whitney statistical analysis (p < 0.05).

Main Results:

• The ATC model demonstrated significantly fewer errors in critical patient data (p = 0.017), including mechanism of injury, diagnosis, and disposition.
• Patient accountability was considerably improved with the ATC method during mass casualty scenarios.
• Participants found the ATC data strips comparable in ease of use and preferred the ATC method over traditional approaches (p = 0.003).

Conclusions:

• The ATC model offers a more effective approach to patient data tracking with reduced errors compared to clipboard methods.
• Implementing ATC principles can enhance trauma management in both civilian and military settings.
• The system shows promise for improving patient flow and data integrity in emergency departments and trauma centers.