{"id":17042,"date":"2023-09-29T17:55:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T21:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=17042"},"modified":"2023-10-13T13:12:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T17:12:35","slug":"op-ed-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2023\/09\/29\/op-ed-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed- The Shortcomings of Mass Casualty Response"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever heard the phrase \u201cTime is Money\u201d? I\u2019d like to go further and say that Time is Life<\/strong>. The more time you waste, the more your life dwindles away. In the macrocosm of life this is true, but in the response to a mass casualty event (such as a tornado, school shooting, earthquake, wildfire, etc). this reality becomes abundantly clear. The National Search and Rescue Plan details, \u201cThe life expectancy of an injured survivor decreases as much as 80 percent during the first 24\u2009hours [after a crisis], while the chances of survival of uninjured survivors rapidly diminishes after the first 3 days.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> Even if the rescue team is already present in the community, it often takes these experts \u201ca minimum of 24 to 48 hours to\u201d… \u201cbecome operational at a site.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> So therefore, the individuals already present at the site are paramount to recovery. However, the individual needs to be in the correct mental state to be useful in a response. For example, an individual\u2019s heart rate rises above 115, they begin to lose fine and complex motor skills, peripheral vision and depth perception, cognitive function, and begin exhibiting auditory exclusion.3<\/a><\/sup> Through these symptoms of a larger issue, I\u2019ve come to this conclusion on how to phrase the problem I\u2019ve uncovered: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the mental and experiential limitations of those already on the scene, how can we equip the individuals already at or near the scene with extremely intuitive rescue tools in order to supplement search and rescue before and after teams arrive, in order to make rescue and transport more efficient? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now before talking more on that question, I\u2019d like to break the previously described symptoms down further in detail. The first aspect I\u2019d like to address is what group takes the longest to receive care. When examining a group of injured individuals, victims are classified as mildly injured (green), moderately injured (yellow), severely injured (red), and dead (black).4<\/a><\/sup> Although the severely injured or \u201cred\u201d individuals are the first priority, they\u2019re often the last to arrive to receive care at a hospital.5<\/a><\/sup> This can be due to the fact that severely injured patients can\u2019t walk to receive care themselves (they\u2019re immoble), or due to these individuals being trapped in precarious geographical locations or entrapments. Such as an individual trapped under rubble, locations that are mountainous, high altitude locations, environments with flooding, and any other unique biomes such as a jungle. These individuals are the most at risk, and often the most time sensitive, but are failing to get the care they deserve in an efficient period of time. Once again, the first 24 hours immediately after an incident occurs are absolutely paramount to a successful response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rescue teams take 24-48 hours in order to set up to respond to a mass casualty event, and thus miss this critical 24 hour window. So therefore, in the meantime, it\u2019s up to whatever locals and services that happen to already be on scene to handle the situation. Now unfortunately, people aren\u2019t perfect. Not only do individuals lack the expertise and training to deal with a mass casualty incident, but they also may be panicked during the response. When an individual\u2019s heart rate rises above 115, their fine motor skills begin to deteriorate, and at 145 bpm their complex motor skills begin to deteriorate. At 175 bpm higher, an individual starts to exhibit the following symptoms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n