Preparing hospitals for toxicological mass casualties events.

Includes references

Reprinted from Critical care medicine; 1999; V. 27, no. 5; p. 1004-1008

Accidents involving hazardous toxic materials such as those in Bhopal, India, and Lake Nyos in Cameroon, demonstrated that chemical agents might cause the injury and death of thousands of civilians within a short period of time. A nerve gas attack on a civilian population was long considered a hypothetical and unprecedented scenario. Recently, however, we witness in 1994 and 1995, mass casualty incidents caused by sarin poisoning in Japan. These mass casualty incidents pose an overwhelming demand on hospital resources and may require state or federal support beyond local involvement. The need for decontamination and the management of a large number of critically ill patients, both children and adults, who require resuscitation and intensive care add a new and stressful dimension to the event