EMT Chapter 40 incident management

mass-casualty incident (MCI)

refers to any call that involves three or more patients

mutual response aid

an agreement between neighboring EMS systems to respond when local resources are insufficient to handle the response

National incident management system (NIMS)

a department of homeland security system designed to enable federal, state, and local governments and private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to effectively and efficiently prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity, including acts of catastrophic terrorism

freelancing

individual units or different organizations making independent and often inefficient decisions about the next appropriate actions

span of control

principle refers to keeping the supervisor/worker ration at one supervisor for five subordinates, used as a guideline not definitive ruling.

organization levels

sections: responsible for a major functional area such as finance/administration, logistics, planning, or operations

branches: managed by branch director, may be functional or geographic in nature

divisions: one supervisor, usually refers to crews working in the same geographic area

groups: one supervisor, usually refers to crews working in the same function

incident commander

person in charge of the whole incident, assesses, establishes strategic objectives and priorities and develops a plan.

unified command system

a command system used in larger incidents in which there is a multiagency response or multiple jurisdictions are involved

single command system

one person in charge of MCI response

finance/administration section chief

responsible for documenting all expenditure at an incident for reimbursement broken into four units

time unit: recording of personnel time and equipment use

procurement unit: all matters concerning vendor contracts

compensation and claims unit: deals with claims as a result of the incident and injury compensation

the cost unit: collecting, analyzing, and reporting the costs related to an incident

logistics section

responsible for communication equipment, facilities, food and water, fuel, lighting, medical equipment and supplies for patients and emergency responders. trained to find food, shelter and fuel and healthcare for you and other responders at the scene of an MCI

operations section

responsible for tactical operations usually handled by the IC on routine EMS calls to free up their time during MCI

planning section

responsible for solving problems as they arise during an incident by obtaining data about the problem, analyze the previous incident plan and predict what or who is needed to make the new plan work.

safety officer

monitors the scene for hazards, has the authority to stop emergency operations whenever danger is present

public information officer (PIO)

provides the public and media a clear understandable information

joint information center (JIC)

PIOs from multiple agencies working together, may distribute messages to prevent panic and provide evacuation directions

liaison officer

relays information and concerns among command, the general staff, and other agencies

open incident

possible ongoing situation that could produce more patients or the potential for more patients to be located

closed incident

all casualties accounted for on the scene of an incident

traige

sorting patients based on severity of their injuries

triage categories

IDME

immediate(red) first priority

delayed(yellow) can be delayed

minimal(green) require minimal to no field treatment

expectant(black) dead or so severely injured that they have next to no chance for survival

disaster

widespread event that disrupts functions and resources of a community and threaten lives and property

hazardous material

any material that poses an unreasonable risk of damage or injury to people, property, or the environment if it not properly controlled during handling, storage, manufacture, processing, packaging, use and disposal, and transportation.

carboy

glass, plastic or steel container that holds 1-15 gallons of product