Background: The authors sought to estimate the impact of the terrorist bombings of the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation headquarters and the British consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 20, 2003, on two nearby hospitals, in terms of epidemiologic outcomes, resource utilization, and time course of emergency needs.
Methods: The authors used data from hospital records of injured survivors who used the emergency departments (EDs) at the Taksim Education and Research State Hospital (TERSH) and the American Hospital (AH) in Istanbul on November 20, 2003, to determine the totals and rates of mortality (early, late, and critical), injury, critical injury (Injury Severity Score > 15), ED use, hospitalization, operative care, and in-hospital overtriage and the time intervals of ED arrival.
Results: The TERSH received 184 victims in the first hour after the initial blast, of which 88 (48%) were brought by emergency medical services, 171 (93%) had lacerations, 7 (4%) had penetrating eye injuries, 28 (15%) were hospitalized, 18 (10%) received operative care, and 7 (4%) were critically injured.
Objectives: This study aimed to provide an overview of morbidity and mortality among patients admitted to the Hospital of the Medicine Faculty of Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey, after the 1999 Marmara earthquake.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of the medical records of 645 earthquake victims. Patients' demographic data, diagnosis, dispositions, and prognosis were reviewed.
Objectives: The authors sought to estimate the impact of the open-air mass-casualty terrorist bombings of the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel Synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 15, 2003, on the American Hospital (AH) in terms of resource utilization, epidemiologic outcomes, and time course of emergency needs.
Methods: A retrospective descriptive study using data from hospital records of injured survivors who used the emergency department at AH on November 15, 2003, to determine the number and percentage of injured survivors who were hospitalized, received operative care, had specific injury types, had an Injury Severity Score >/=16, died, and arrived within certain time intervals.
Results: AH received 69 (91%) injured survivors from the scene, of which nine (12%) were hospitalized and three (4%) received operative care.
Background: This paper describes the two mass-casualty, terrorist attacks that occurred in Istanbul, Turkey in November 2003, and the resulting pre-hospital emergency response.
Methods: A complex, retrospective, descriptive study was performed, using open source reports, interviews, direct measurements of street distances, and hospital records from the American Hospital (AH) and Taksim Education and Research State Hospital (TERSH) in Istanbul.
Results: On 15 November, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in trucks were detonated outside the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel Synagogues, killing 30 persons and injuring an estimated additional 300.
Study Objectives: We evaluated compliance with standard patient transfer protocols in a pre- and post-interventional study among patients transferred from other hospitals to our tertiary care university hospital.
Methods: In the first phase, transfer information was recorded on the arrival in 174 consecutive patients transferred to our emergency department (ED) over a 2-month period in 1999. Emergency caregivers throughout the province then received education about proper transfer procedures.