Mass Casualty Decontamination in a Chemical or Radiological/ Nuclear Incident: Further Guiding Principles

Conclusion This research programme can be used to inform best practice for managing casualties during mass decontamination. However, as noted in Cibulsky et al. (2016)1, there is a need for further research in this area to optimise casualty management strategies for mass decontamination. Ongoing work related to the development of optimal management strategies for mass decontamination is being carried out as part of the NIHR Emergency Preparedness and Response Health Protection Research Unit (EPR HPRU) (http://epr.hpru.nihr.ac.uk/). This research includes a qualitative study of factors which affect perceived public acceptability of different decontamination methods, part of which involves testing the effect of different responder management strategies on perceived public acceptability of mass decontamination. The research also examines cultural factors which may affect public willingness to comply with different decontamination methods. Further research could include analysis of data from real incidents involving decontamination, as well as new field studies and exercises testing different responder management strategies. In particular, future research should consider practical aspects of communication, such as how best to deliver information to members of the public during the decontamination process, and also how best to protect casualties’ privacy and so promote compliance with the decontamination process. Competing Interests The authors have declared that no competing i...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research