פוסט זה זמין גם ב:
עברית
Why It’s Important
The number of mass shootings in the US in which at least 4 people were shot or killed increased from 417 incidents in 2019 to 691 incidents in 2021, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. Last year, 705 people died and 2833 others were injured in US mass shootings.
“Mass shootings are unique incidents that combine penetrating injuries with a large number of victims, widespread psychological trauma, and specific medical response considerations,” the authors of the recommendations wrote. They noted that fatality rates can be high and that the often-substantial distance to the nearest trauma center can delay critical treatment.
In an interview with JAMA, Craig Goolsby, MD, MEd, MHCDS, an emergency physician and the recommendations’ senior author, said he and then colleagues at the Uniformed Services University’s National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health wondered how to improve the health care response to these events. To try to answer this, they convened a group of medical professionals with firsthand knowledge.
“The article is an attempt to establish best practices based on real-life experience of EMS personnel, ER physicians, and trauma surgeons who were on duty and responded to mass shootings,” explained coauthor Deborah Kuhls, MD, a trauma and critical care surgeon at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. Kuhls was among the responders who treated people injured during the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting in which a gunman killed 58 people and wounded 800 more, according to a 2018 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police report.
