K-plan for patient repatriation after mass casualty events abroad

In addition to requests for individual aeromedical evacuation (AE), medical assistance companies also may respond to mass casualty incidents abroad. The purpose of this report was to evaluate the effectiveness of our primary casualty plan, based on experience involving a January 2010 bus crash in southern Egypt. The main evaluative criterion was time elapsed from the initial call until the return of victims to their home country. Three critically injured patients underwent an initial AE to Cairo for advanced trauma care. After stabilization, they arrived back in their home country 42 hours after the initial call. The remaining group of patients arrived 27 hours later, or a total of 69 hours after the first call. These findings suggest that the "K-Plan" standardized operating process may be effective for rapid and appropriate repatriation of numerous victims. Some specific issues, such as efficiently locating a large-capacity charter aircraft, require further improvement.