The challenges of deliberate chemical/biological attack

Respiratory protection during high-fidelity simulated resuscitation of casualties contaminated with chemical warfare agents

Emergency room personnel are threatened by secondary poisoning when treating victims affected by chemical warfare agents. Therefore, resuscitation skills practised with respiratory protection equipment in place require evaluation. We investigated the influence of wearing air-purifying respirators on the simulated resuscitation of chemical warfare agent casualties. We studied 22 anaesthetic trainees in a simulated resuscitation scenario requiring five set tasks, either unprotected, wearing a binocular visor respirator or a panoramic visor respirator in a randomised, crossover study. Treatment times did not differ between the three groups, with mean (SD) times to complete the tasks being 122 (8) s without a mask, 126 (7) s when wearing the panoramic visor mask and 129 (8) s when wearing the binocular respirator mask. All anaesthetists preferred the panoramic visor in terms of visual orientation but 88% of them rated the binocular mask as being more comfortable. Modern respirators have a negligible effect on simulated resuscitation scenarios for victims affected by chemical warfare agents. Panoramic visor respirators allow better visual orientation for anaesthetists during simulated resuscitation.

Influence of air-purifying respirators on the simulated first response emergency treatment of CBRN victims

AIM

Medical first responders and emergency room personnel potentially are threatened by exposure to primary or secondary intoxication by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) substances. The impact of personal respiratory protection by air-purifying respirators on the performance of resuscitation requires evaluation. This will help to improve major incident planning and measures for protecting medical staff.

METHODS

We investigated the influence of two air-purifying respirator designs on the resuscitation of simulated CBRN victims. Fourteen UK paramedics followed a standardised resuscitation algorithm, either unprotected or wearing a bi-ocular and a panoramic visor respirator in a randomised crossover design. Treatment times and wearer comfort was determined and compared.

RESULTS

We did not find any difference in treatment times between the groups wearing respiratory protection and the controls (189+/-8.3s for the controls, 191+/-9.5s for the panoramic visor mask and 206+/-9.1s for the bi-ocular respirator [mean+/-S.E.M.]). Tracheal intubation appeared to be the most time consuming task. In a questionnaire, volunteers were of the opinion that orientation whilst wearing the respirator with the panoramic visor was better compared to the bi-ocular one (85% versus 15%). With respect to the fit, the majority (79%) rated the bi-ocular respirator as more comfortable.

CONCLUSIONS

Modern personal respiratory protection has only a negligible effect in the delay on the short term treatment during well defined simulated scenarios with a single CBRN casualty. Furthermore, air-purifying respirators with panoramic visors seem to allow a better orientation for medical first responders during simulated resuscitation.

Truth hurts - hard lessons from Australia's largest mass casualty exercise with contaminated patients

In response to the increasing threat of a mass casualty incident involving chemical, biological or radiological agents, and concern over the preparedness of our hospital system to cope with patients from such an incident, we conducted the largest hospital-based field exercise involving contaminated patients that has been held in Australia. In the present paper, we outline the background to, and methodology of, Exercise Supreme Truth, and the efforts made to increase its realism. We focus our discussion on three issues highlighted by the exercise, which we believe have enormous implications for the development of hospital chemical, biological or radiological plans and the likelihood of their success--hospital security, crowd control and decontamination.

Clinical review: Tokyo - protecting the health care worker during a chemical mass casualty event: an important issue of continuing relevance

Determine the effectiveness of decontamination, and perform thorough dry or wet decontamination, depending on the circumstances. Always remain cognizant of the fact that, even after decontamination has been completed, contamination may not have been completely eliminated. Perform periodic monitoring to determine whether secondary exposure has occurred in health care workers; if it appears that secondary exposure has occurred, then the PPE level must be increased and attempts must be made to identify and eliminate the source of the contamination. Finally, if the victims were exposed through ingestion, then consider the possibility that secondary exposure will occur during gastric lavage.