How Does the Response and Management of Terrorist Attacks By
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Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association How Does the Response and Management of Terrorist Attacks by Emergency Medical Services in the UK Compare to Europe and the USA? Alex Grant, BSc (Hons) 1, Simon Dady, BSc 1 1Anglia Ruskin University, Essex, United Kingdom. Abstract (EPRR), casualty triage, and tactical emergency medical services (TEMS). Research question These themes were present in 90%, 70% How does the response and management and 40% of the papers respectively. of terrorist attacks by emergency medical services (EMS) in the United Kingdom Conclusion (UK) compare to Europe and the United New and innovative EMS response States of America (USA)? strategies occurred over the study period, in part due to dissemination of lessons Introduction learned. Despite advances in response to Terrorist attacks and active shooter events mass violence events, significant gaps account for a growing number of mass remain, in part due to lack of adoption of casualty and major incidents in the UK, recommendations. Recent experience Europe and the USA. In order to better with advanced TEMS providers capable of prepare for future incidents, analysis of operating within the inner perimeter prior events is essential. suggest that this approach should be further evaluated as part of the response Methods plan for future events. Systematic literature searches of papers published between 1/1/2004 and Keywords 5/31/2018 were conducted using two key Terrorist attack, terrorism, medical databases: CINAHL Plus and PubMed response, emergency medical services, (indexed from MEDLINE). Key contents of tactical emergency medicine, UK, Europe, identified papers were abstracted, USA, bombing, marauding terrorist including EMS response and patient firearms attack, EPRR, active shooter, management, with emphasis placed upon mass casualty incident identified recommendations and lessons learned. Results Four hundred and forty-two records were identified in the preliminary search, with 176 records further screened using the title and abstract. Ten papers were included in the final review, reflecting 13 events from five countries across two continents. Three major themes identified throughout the papers were emergency preparedness, resilience and response 1 Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association Background study was to perform a systematic review A “terrorist attack” is the use of violence or of recent mass violence events and threats of violence by terrorists to attempt establish some fundamental areas for to publicise their beliefs and achieve their improvement. goals, by influencing or exerting pressure upon governments (MI5, 2018). In recent Methods years, terrorism has evolved to use This was a structured database review diverse methods of attack, ranging from using the online databases CINAHL Plus firearms to bladed weapons to vehicular and PubMed. The inclusion dates 1/1/2004 assaults to improvised explosive devices. – 5/31/2018 were selected to capture Regardless of the mechanism of injury, extensive literature on terrorist attacks and harm inflicted upon innocent civilians has active shooter events. The decision to limit been substantial (Rozenfeld et al, 2019). studies to the United Kingdom, Europe, Since 2004, more than 24 discrete and the USA was taken due to similarities terrorist mass violence events have been in societal structure and government perpetrated in Europe, ranging from the response. Searches were conducted on Madrid train bombings to the Manchester 31st May 2018 into both databases using Arena attack (USA Today, 2016; BBC the inclusion criteria listed in Table 1. News, 2017). UK security services Exclusion factors and the screening reported thwarting 16 terror plots between process have been listed in figure 1 and a March 2017 and February 2018 summary of the literature is reported in (Metropolitan Police, 2018). Table 2. In addition to terrorist attacks, active shooter incidents can produce similar deadly results. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation defines an active shooter incident as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” (FBI, 2018). According to the most recent statistics, 27 active shooter events occurred in 2018, resulting in 85 fatalities and 128 wounded individuals (U.S. Department of Justice, 2018). Prior studies have highlighted the need to review major incidents, identify common themes, and make recommendations for policy adoption and response agency practice (Moran et al, 2017; Thompson et al, 2014). The purpose of the current 2 Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association Literature Summary Table 2: Literature summary of selected studies for review. Citations Event Summary Key Findings Limitations Hunt, P. Lessons Five terrorists killed Command and Sole author not identified from the 36 people using IEDs, control structure is involved in 2017 Manchester vehicles and knives in critical, with the response. and London Westminster, London ability to collapse Qualitative terrorism Bridge and and expand as the methodologies. incidents. Part 1: Manchester Arena. incident introduction and progresses. the prehospital Triage proved phase, (2018). challenging due to the unsafe nature of the scenes. Over triage and changes in patient priority happened before arriving at hospital. Multi-agency collaboration and training exercises are factors for a successful response. Logistical issues, particularly stretchers, were a significant response constraint at Manchester Arena. Patients self- presented at hospitals via private vehicles or police transport prior to EMS arrival, thereby impeding attempts at MCI triage. 3 Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association Data was collected Bobko, J., Sinha, In 2015, two terrorists TEMS were via an M., Chen, D. et al, carried out a training nearby at unstructured after- A Tactical marauding terrorist the time of the action review, Medicine After- firearms attack incident and rather than action Report of (MTFA), killing 17 entered the hot structured debriefs the San people and injuring zone alongside of all involved Bernardino over 30. IEDs were tactical units, personnel. Terrorist Incident, placed but not performing triage Qualitative (2018). detonated. and life-saving methodologies. interventions. Command posts were set up within discovered IED blast radii, requiring relocation and causing disruption to the tactical operation Rescue Task Force (RTF) enabled warm zone operations and augmented TEMS personnel; SWAT medic. The combination of TEMS and RTF enabled synergistic operations throughout the event. The first patients to arrive at medical facilities were by brought by police, not EMS. Carli, P., Pons, F., In 2015, 137 people In the aftermath of Limited details. Levraut, J. et al, died and over 400 the Paris attack, Qualitative review. The French were injured during a civilian EMS emergency multisite terrorist responders medical services attack in Paris. In consulted with after the Paris and 2016, an 18-wheel military medical Nice terrorist heavy goods vehicle services for struck hundreds of education and staff training, including 4 Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association attacks: what have people, killing 87 and damage control we learnt? (2017). injuring 458 in Nice. resuscitative concepts and ‘care under fire’ awareness. Service Médical In 2015, three TEMS physicians Qualitative review. du RAID., Tactical terrorists entered the successfully Potential bias in emergency Bataclan theatre and operated within the favour of authors’ medicine: lessons murdered 89 civilians inner perimeter, methods. from Paris using military grade performing triage marauding firearms and IEDs. A and life-saving terrorist attack, specialist law interventions. (2016). enforcement team, A pile of dead RAID (research, bodies may have assistance, obstructed intervention, identification and deterrence), access to living immediately patients with responded to the potentially Bataclan theatre survivable injuries. scene. A shortage of stretchers led to casualties being removed from the area on crowd barriers. By the time civilian EMS teams were granted access, all surviving casualties had been extricated. Gates, J., Arabian, At the 2013 Boston Due to the nature Qualitative S., Biddinger, P. et Marathon, terrorists of the event methodologies. No al, The Initial planted two IEDs (ground-level structured Response to the near the finish line IEDs), many interviews. Boston Marathon (where the medical casualties Bombing: Lessons tents were located). sustained injuries Learned to Both detonated in amenable to Prepare for the quick succession, tourniquet use. Next Disaster, killing 3 and injuring Rapid extraction to (2014). 281 people. hospitals trained and prepared to manage surges of 5 Official journal of the Australian Tactical Medical Association severely injured casualties is critical to patient survival. Sollid, S., In 2011, a lone The light Structured data Rimstad, R., terrorist in Norway emergency collection. Limited Rehn, M. et al, killed 77 people using stretcher system data sources. Oslo government a vehicle-borne IED, (LESS), part of the district bombing and later carried out disaster plan, and Utøya island an MTFA on an proved highly shooting July 22, isolated island. effective in the 2011: The extraction of large immediate numbers of prehospital casualties. emergency No civilian medics medical service were permitted response, (2012).