Management of mass casualty: a review

The aim of this article is to discuss the management of mass casualty and sensitise authorities at various levels and trauma surgeons the need for awareness and training in the management of mass casualty.

Thorough Medline and bibliography search and available local literatures relevant to the management of mass casualty was reviewed. The available articles were reviewed in order to decipher the management pattern in various forms and degree of disasters resulting in mass casualty.

Little attention was paid to mass casualty management in civilian population until mid nineties, even, in developed countries. Knowledge in this area has expanded in the last 10 years due to terrorist attacks in the United State America. In developing countries, nothing is known to be on the ground in form of planning for appropriate response to mass casualty.

Mass casualty usually associated with straining of existing facilities, and with high morbidity and mortality. Pre-incident and adequate training is necessary to reduce morbidity and mortality from major incident which occurrence is often not predictable.