Making Space to Save Lives: A Critical Role for the Hospitalist During Mass Casualty Incidents.

Objective: An effective hospital response to mass casualty incidents (MCIs) requires rapid mobilization of personnel capable of caring for critically ill trauma patients and availability of resuscitation resources.

Methods: Hospitals facing an MCI wrestle with the challenge of immediately adjusting their overextended clinical operations to resuscitate a large number of rapidly arriving patients without compromising the care of existing patients.

Results: Hospitalists are well positioned to add significant value by off-loading the emergency department (ED) given their broad clinical expertise.