Managing multiple-casualty incidents: a rural medical preparedness training assessment.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to develop a novel training model for using mass-casualty incident (MCI) scenarios that trained hospital and prehospital staff together using Microsoft Visio, images from Google Earth and icons representing first responders, equipment resources, local hospital emergency department bed capacity, and trauma victims. The authors also tested participants' knowledge in the areas of communications, incident command systems (ICS), and triage.

Methods: Participants attended Managing Multiple-Casualty Incidents (MCIs), a one-day training which offered pre- and post-tests, two one-hour functional exercises, and four distinct, one-hour didactic instructional periods.