Mass Casualty Field Test Exercise - August 5, 2006

Demonstration and evaluation of the AID-N system was conducted at Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland on Saturday, August 5, 2006. The exercise was conducted in collaboration with Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Volunteer Services personnel led by Chief Dan Blankfeld.

The field test exercise was an analysis of patient assessment, logistics, and team communication in a simulated mass casualty event where two teams of EMS providers care for patients. One team of providers used traditional vital sign monitoring and communication devices while the other team used advanced technologies including wireless vital sign monitors and internet technologies. The goal of this study was to determine if wireless monitoring of patient vital signs during a simulated mass casualty event would improve the ability of medical providers to obtain essential patient information and continuously transmit the data to EMS officers, public health officials and destination hospitals as compared to traditional methods.

The scenario simulated a multi-car traffic accident, The event assumed a traffic accident caused by an overpass collapse with over 100 wounded victims. The surge of patients overflowed all hospitals within the 15 mile radius of the accident. The drill focused on a subset of the total patients, and involved 20 wounded victims from a single bus, separated into a control group and an experimental group of 10 patients each. The 20 volunteer victims were provided by the Montgomery County volunteer center. 15 trained EMS personnel were provided by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. Some of the patients were transported to Suburban Hospital, a level-one trauma center. Other patients that required less immediate treatment, but could not be sent to the hospital because of the overflow situation, were transferred to the nearby Montgomery Blair High School, which was set up as an ad hoc auxiliary care center and was staffed by the EMS personnel from the scene.

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Click the image above to view a movie about the AID-N Exercise