A new compendium of strategies to enhance survival of victims from mass casualty events has been released as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons. The report, "Strategies to Enhance Survival in Active Shooter and Intentional Mass Casualty Events: A Compendium", contains recommendations from the Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability from Intentional Mass Casualty and Active Shooter Events. These expert recommendations are called the “Hartford Consensus.”

Following the active shooter disaster at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the ACS — in collaboration with the medical community, federal government agencies, the U.S. military, and nongovernmental emergency medical response organisations — formed the committee through the guidance and leadership of Lenworth M. Jacobs, Jr., MD, MPH, FACS, Chairman of the Hartford Consensus.

Dr. Jacobs' committee convened in Hartford, Conn., on three occasions to create a protocol for national policy to enhance survivability from active shooter and intentional mass casualty events. The result was the Hartford Consensus, which consists of three reports. The first report developed the algorithm THREAT, for initial response to deadly injury: Threat suppression, Haemorrhage control, Rapid Extrication to safety, Assessment by medical providers, and Transport to definitive care.

The compendium comes in response to a Presidential Policy Directive from President Obama, “aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the U.S. through systematic preparation for the threats that pose the greatest risk to the security of the Nation, including acts of terrorism, cyberattacks, pandemics, and catastrophic natural disasters.”

The compendium has been distributed to all ACS members and will also be distributed to employees of federal agencies and stakeholders interested in improving the public’s ability to respond at the scene of active shooter and mass casualty events.

“The complexity and diversity of a country as large as the U.S. represents a significant implementation challenge. But we think it’s imperative to get this compendium widely distributed throughout the emergency care community, and to the general public as well," says Dr. Jacobs, who is also Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer at Hartford Hospital, and Professor of Surgery, University of Connecticut School of Medicine. "It is through these coordinated responses involving the public and organised service personnel that we can enhance survivability from active shooter and intentional mass casualty events.”

The compendium is available for download on the ACS website.

Source and image credit: American College of Surgeons (ACS)

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healthmanagement, Hartford Consensus, cyberattacks, emergency care, American College of Surgeons, mass casualty events A new compendium of strategies to enhance survival of victims from mass casualty events has been released as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons.