The Berlin Acute Trauma Care Instrument Set (BATMIN) - A Selected Combination of Surgical Instruments for Damage Control and Hemostasis Surgery in Severe Acute Trauma.

A lack of sterile surgical instrument sets for damage control surgeries of severely injured patients became evident in a series of in-hospital mass casualty trainings in the German capital of Berlin. Moreover, the existing instrument trays contained mostly specialized instruments for elective interventions and were not well composed for the treatment of poly-traumatized patients. After a literature search on the most common injury patterns in Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs), an expert group of surgeons from different disciplines designed an optimized instrument set.

Emergency response to terrorist attacks: results of the federal-conducted evaluation process in Germany.

Purpose: Rescue missions during terrorist attacks are extremely challenging for all rescue forces (police as well as non-police forces) involved. To improve the quality and safety of the rescue missions during an active killing event, it is obligatory to adapt common rescue mission goals and strategies.

Methods: After the recent attacks in Europe, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance started an evaluation process on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Health.

[The Berlin mass casualty hospital triage algorithm : Development, implementation and influence on exercise-based triage results].

Background And Objective: Patient triage has a key function within the scope of the successful management of mass disasters and ensures the correct resource allocation. Analysis of unheralded hospital disaster training in Berlin hospitals revealed triage problems referring the correct classification of patients in the triage categories and relevant overtriaging and undertriaging. Therefore, a triage algorithm tailored to the clinical setting was developed in Berlin and after presentation and discussion within the circle of the representatives for clinical catastrophe protection, the algorithm was introduced as obligatory in 2015.

Results of in-hospital triage in 17 mass casualty trainings: underestimation of life-threatening injuries and need for re-triage.

Background: In-hospital triage is the key factor for successful management of an overwhelming number of patients in lack of treatment capacity. The main goal of in-hospital triage is to identify casualties with life-threatening injuries and to allocate immediate medical aid. For the first time, we evaluate the quality of in-hospital triage in the German capital Berlin.

[Management of a nuclear, biological and chemical mass casualties event].

The management of a nuclear, biological or chemical mass casualties event (MCE) is a great challenge for emergency medical services and the hospitals of the region. Planing, exactly prepared protocols, adequate resources, instructions and extended training are the most important elements for successfull management of the MCE. This review presents a concept of managing a MCE including recognizing the threat, personal protection, evacuation, lifesaving procedures, decontamination, treatment, transport, hospital management, as well as procedures to avoid further contamination and panic.