Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/46658
Estimated driving times in conjunction with real-ime bed capacity provide information that supports evidence-based decision making. Although determination of the appropriate evacua- tion hospital for each patient is the primary purpose of this SDSS model, there are other important benefits to its development, all of which contribute to the more- effective use of limited resources. These benefits include updating of patient status upon assessment within the hospital and more even distribution of criti- cally injured patients among evacuation hospitals. Better Diagnoses During a mass casualty, hospitals may become over- whelmed by a sudden, massive influx of patients. This, in turn, can lead to deterioration in the level of care that hospitals can provide. In such cases, however, there may be a large number of patients who are overtriaged or diagnosed as critically injured in the field when, in fact, their injury can be classified as non-life-threatening. This is common during a mass casualty, as paramedics and doctors tend to err on the side of caution when diagnos- ing patients in the field. By allowing two-way communication between hospi- tals and paramedics at the incident location, the SDSS allows bed capacity to be adjusted by hospital staff to account for overtriaged patients arriving at the hospi- tal. The SDSS also assists in ensuring that patients are more evenly distributed among all appropriate hos- pitals within the surrounding area, thereby preventing particular hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and enabling hospitals to be better prepared to care for arriving patients. Few spatial models have been developed for use in mass-casualty situations because of their dynamic and chaotic nature. They also require accurate information in real time to be useful (e.g., real-time bed capacity). Although real-time driving information isn't available with this SDSS, estimated driving times in conjunction with real-time bed capacity provide information that supports evidence-based decision making. lFigure 5. In a situation where two mass casualties occur simultaneously, a separate model is opened for each. The suggested evacuation hospital is highlighted in yellow. Within this trauma system, patients will first be transported to trauma hospitals (VGH and RC) and then to non-trauma hospitals based on proximity and capacity. Bed capacity for both models will be updated in real time regardless of where the incident occurred. As the illustration shows, this will result in relatively even hospital utilization levels throughout the evacuation process. Ofer Amram is a PhD student in the department of geography at Simon Fraser; e-mail: oamram@sfu.ca. ADVERTISERINDEX ADVERTISER BAE Systems www.baesystems.com/gxp GeoDirectory www.geoplace.com/directory GeoPlace.com www.geoplace.com GeoWorld Reprints www.geoplace.com GeoWorld Subscriptions www.geoplace.com/subscribe PAGE 32 31 5 9 29 OCT O BER 2O11 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . C OM 25