Abstract
Background
A suicide bomber attack occurred in Somalia's capital city of Mogadishu on October
14, 2017. Over 500 people died, making it the third largest suicide bombing attack
in world history. In this study, we aimed to share our experience and to discuss the
importance of triage and prehospital care systems.
Methods
These retrospective data included data from patients who suffered from severe explosions.
Patient triage was performed using the START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) triage
algorithm at the entrance of the hospital. The patients included in the study were
classified according to their age, sex, triage code, location of their major injury,
department to which they were admitted, and discharge and/or exit status.
Results
The patients included 188 (74.6%) males, and the mean age was 30.94 ± 12.23 years
(range, 1–80 years). Eighty-six (34.1%) patients were marked with a red code indicating
major injury, and 138 (54.8%) patients had superficial injuries. A total of 173 (68.7%)
patients were managed in the emergency department (ED), and 7 (2.8%) patients died
in the first 24 h. Multiple trauma injuries were detected in 43 (17.1%) patients,
and 31 (12.3%) patients were admitted to the orthopedics department.
Conclusion
Disaster management in a terrorist event requires rapid transport, appropriate triage,
effective surgical approaches, and specific postoperative care. In this event, almost
all patients were brought to the ED by lay rescuers. Appropriate triage algorithms
for the public can be designed; for instance, green code: walking patient; yellow
code: patient who is moving and asking for help; red code: unmoving or less mobile
patient who is breathing; black code: nonbreathing patient.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 08, 2020
Accepted:
December 4,
2020
Received in revised form:
December 2,
2020
Received:
October 9,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
