WVU Medicine Promotes Best Practices at Trauma, Acute Care, and Critical Care Conference

Last week, Alison Wilson, MD, FACS, executive director of the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute; Jason Turner, MD, FACS, chief of surgery, WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center; and Elizabeth Garrasi, enterprise director, Emergency Management and Business Continuity, represented WVU Medicine at the Trauma, Acute Care, and Critical Care (aka, the Mattox Meeting) national conference in Las Vegas.

Dr. Turner and Elizabeth were part of an expert panel, moderated by Dr. Wilson, on “Engaging the C-Suite in Medical Disaster Response.” Topics covered included creating buy-in for preparedness, developing workable mass casualty plans, assigning a triage officer, safe and expedited movement of patients, vertical evacuation, and providing care during an emergency medicine response failure. Panelists were able to share best practices and fielded questions from the audience.

In a later session, Dr. Turner presented “Preparing for MASCAL at a Level III – Challenges, Tips, and Tricks.” The presentation highlighted that many mass casualty plans are impractical and need to be revamped. He provided insight into effective planning processes, including the criticality of engagement by trauma surgeons. Dr. Turner recommended collaborating with stakeholders, such as security, EMS, radiology, and blood bank, to improve mass casualty planning. He emphasized the importance of completing the appropriate education and training to ensure an organized mass casualty (MASCAL) response.

Dr. Wilson closed out the one-day conference with a talk titled “Who is in Charge? Coordinating Multiple Agencies in MASCAL,” which focused on how to get the right kind of help during a disaster and how to manage the process, and identifying the multiple resources required to navigate the incident. The audience learned how maintaining a clear chain of command and keeping open, direct lines of communication is essential to managing a MASCAL successfully. A key takeaway from the presentation was that hospitals should activate their disaster plans early as it is easier to de-escalate rather than try to catch up.