Plane crash tests Stanford hospitals’ disaster plans

Within minutes of the crash landing of an Asiana Airlines flight carrying 307 passengers at San Francisco International Airport, employees at Stanford University Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., prepared to execute their long-rehearsed “mass casualty plan,” the Mountain View (Calif.) Voice reported. Ultimately, 55 injured passengers were brought to the hospitals in six hours, drawing on medical resources as well as social workers, translators, government agencies, and others—and testing the hospitals’ joint plans for a range of disaster scenarios.

A logistical command center was set up in a specially equipped conference room on Stanford University Hospital’s third floor. Medical receiving teams were assembled outdoors in the ambulance bay to facilitate rapid intake and return ambulances to the crash site. Patients who were in the emergency department before the crash occurred were either admitted to the hospital or sent home to make beds available. All told, about 150 staff members mobilized for the disaster.

Source: Mountain View Voice