From Planning to Practice: Collaborative Strategies for Mass Casualty Incident Preparedness in Hospitals

Summary: As mass shootings and terrorist threats continue to rise, Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) planning has become critical for hospitals. However, there is often a chasm between the planning and implementation phases of MCI preparedness. To be successful, an MCI plan needs to be functional for and familiar to the clinical and ancillary staff who must use it. Involving these individuals in the planning and training processes is key to creating an MCI plan that works on paper and in practice. This presentation discusses strategies for creating an MCI plan and training schedule for Emergency Departments and hospitals. It shares ideas for creating planning teams, explains key concepts for MCI planning in the healthcare setting, and shares templates that can be tailored to the needs of other facilities interested in creating or modifying their plans. It also shares lessons learned by the presenters and encourages an exchange of ideas, challenges, and successes in MCI planning amongst participants.