Citation

Leahy NE, Yurt RW, Lazar EJ, Villacara AA, Rabbitts AC, Berger L, Chan C, Chertoff L, Conlon KM, Cooper A, Green LV, Greenstein B, Lu Y, Miller S, Mineo FP, Pruitt D, Ribaudo DS, Ruhren C, Silber SH, Soloff L. J. Burn Care Res. 2012; 33(5): 587-594.

Affiliation

From the *Department of Nursing, New York Presbyterian Hospital; †Department of Surgery, Division of Burns, Critical Care and Trauma, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York; ‡Quality and Patient Safety, New York Presbyterian Hospital; §System Administration, New York Presbyterian Healthcare System; ║Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, and ¶Bureau of Communicable Diseases, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; #Patient Care Services, Barnabas Health Services, Livingston, New Jersey; **Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, Harlem Hospital Center, New York; ††Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, Jacobi Hospital, Bronx, New York; ‡‡Regulatory Affairs, New York Hospital Queens, Flushing, New York; §§Emergency Medical Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital; and ║║Department of Emergency Medicine, New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, New York.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0b013e318241b2cc

PMID

22964548

Abstract

Since its inception in 2006, the New York City (NYC) Task Force for Patients with Burns has continued to develop a city-wide and regional response plan that addressed the triage, treatment, transportation of 50/million (400) adult and pediatric victims for 3 to 5 days after a large-scale burn disaster within NYC until such time that a burn center bed and transportation could be secured. The following presents updated recommendations on these planning efforts. Previously published literature, project deliverables, and meeting documents for the period of 2009-2010 were reviewed. A numerical simulation was designed to evaluate the triage algorithm developed for this plan. A new, secondary triage scoring algorithm, based on co-morbidities and predicted outcomes, was created to prioritize multiple patients within a given acuity and predicted survivability cohort. Recommendations for a centralized patient and resource tracking database, plan operations, activation thresholds, mass triage, communications, data flow, staffing, resource utilization, provider indemnification, and stakeholder roles and responsibilities were specified. Educational modules for prehospital providers and nonburn center nurses and physicians who would provide interim care to burn injured disaster victims were created and pilot tested. These updated best practice recommendations provide a strong foundation for further planning efforts, and as of February 2011, serve as the frame work for the NYC Burn Surge Response Plan that has been incorporated into the New York State Burn Plan.

Language: en