Hospital Acute Care Surge Capacity (HACSC), Hospital Acute Care Surge Threshold (HACST), and Total Hospital Capacity (THC) are scales that were developed to quantify surge capacity in the event of a multiple-casualty incident (MCI). These scales take into consideration the need for adequate care for both critical (T1) and moderate (T2) trauma patients. The objective of this study was to verify the validity of these scales in nine hospitals of the Milano (Italy) metropolitan area that prepared for a possible MCI during EXPO 2015.

Both HACSC and HACST were computed for individual hospitals. These were compared to surge capacities declared by individual hospitals during EXPO 2015, and also to surge capacity evaluated during a simulation organized on August 23, 2016.

Both HACSC and HACST were smaller compared to capacities measured and reported by the hospitals, as well as those found during the simulation. This resulted in significant differences in THC when this was computed from the different methods of calculation.

Surge capacity is dependent on the method of measurement. Each method has its inherent deficiencies. Until more reliable methodologies are developed, there is a benefit to analyze surge capacity using several methods rather than just one. Emergency committee members should be aware of the importance of critical resources when looking to the hospital capacity to respond to an MCI, and to the possibility to effectively increase it with a good preparedness plan. Since hospital capacity during real events is not static but dynamic, largely depending on occupation of the available resources, it is important that the regional command center and the hospitals receiving casualties constantly communicate on specific agreed upon critical resources, in order for the regional command center to timely evaluate the overall regional capacity and guarantee the appropriate distribution of the patients.

FaccincaniR, Della CorteF, SesanaG, StucchiR, WeinsteinE, AshkenaziI, IngrassiaP. Hospital Surge Capacity during Expo 2015 in Milano, Italy. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(5):459–465.

Trauma patients in the extremes of age may require a specialized approach during a multiple-casualty incident (MCI).

The aim of this study was to examine the type of injuries encountered in children and elderly patients and the implications of these injuries for treatment and organization.

A review of medical record files of patients admitted in MCIs in one Level II trauma center was conducted. Patients were classified according to age: children (≤12 years), adults (between 12-65 years), and elders (≥65 years).

The files of 534 were screened: 31 (5.8%) children and 54 (10.1%) elderly patients. One-third of the elderly patients were either moderately or severely injured, compared to only 6.5% of the children and 11.1% of the adults (P<.001). Elderly patients required more blood transfusions (P=.0001), more computed tomography imaging (P=.0001), and underwent more surgery (P=.0004). Elders were hospitalized longer (P=.0003). There was no mortality among injured children, compared to nine (2.0%) of the adults and seven (13.0%) of the elderly patients (P<.0001). All the adult deaths occurred early and directly related to their injuries, whereas most of the deaths among the elderly patients (four out of seven) occurred late and were due to complications and multiple organ failure.

Injury at an older age confers an increased risk of complications and death in victims of MCIs.

AshkenaziI, EinavS, OlshaO, Turegano-FuentesF, KrauszMM, AlficiR. The Impact of Age upon Contingency Planning for Multiple-casualty Incidents Based on a Single Center’s Experience. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(5):492–497.

Proper management of mass-casualty incidents (MCIs) relies on triage as a critical component of the disaster plan.

The objective of this study was to assess the precision of triage in mass-casualty incidents.

The precision of decisions made by two experienced triage officers was examined in two large MCIs. These decisions were compared to the real severity of injury as defined by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) classification of severity of injuries and the Injury Severity Score (ISS).

Two experienced trauma physicians triaged a total of 94 casualties into 77 mild, seven moderate, and 10 severe casualties. Based on the IDF criteria, there were 74 mild, five moderate, and 15 severe casualties. Based on ISS scoring, there were 78 mild (ISS <9), five moderate (9 ≤ISS<16), and 11 severe (ISS < 16) casualties. Of 15 severely injured victims defined by the IDF classification of injury severity, the triage officers identified only seven (47%).

Primary triage, even when carried out by experienced trauma physicians, can be unreliable in a MCI.