Leclerc T, Sjöberg F, Jennes S, Martinez-Mendez JR, van der Vlies CH, Battistutta A, Lozano-Basanta JA, Moiemen N, Almeland SK, et al.
Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries. Date of publication 2023 Mar 1;volume 49(2):275-303.
1. Burns. 2023 Mar;49(2):275-303. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2022.12.011. Epub 2022 Dec
26.
European Burns Association guidelines for the management of burn mass casualty
incidents within a European response plan.
Leclerc T(1), Sjöberg F(2), Jennes S(3), Martinez-Mendez JR(4), van der Vlies
CH(5), Battistutta A(6), Lozano-Basanta JA(7), Moiemen N(8), Almeland SK(9).
Author information:
(1)Percy Military Teaching Hospital, Clamart, France; Val-de-Grâce Military
Medical Academy, Paris, France.
(2)Linköping Burn Center, Linköping University, Sweden.
(3)Charleroi Burn Wound Center, Skin-burn-reconstruction Pole, Grand Hôpital de
Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium.
(4)Burn Unit, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
(5)Department of Trauma and Burn Surgery, Maasstad Hospital, Rotterdam, the
Netherlands; Trauma Research Unit Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam,
the Netherlands.
(6)Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid
Operations (DG-ECHO), European Commission, Brussels, Belgium.
(7)Emergency Response Coordination Center, Directorate-General for European
Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO), European Commission,
Brussels, Belgium.
(8)University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK; University
of Birmingham, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Birmingham, UK.
(9)Norwegian National Burn Center, Department of Plastic, Hand, and
Reconstructive Surgery, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway;
Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen,
Norway; Norwegian Directorate of Health, Department of Preparedness and
Emergency Medical Services, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address:
stian.almeland@gmail.com.
BACKGROUND: A European response plan to burn mass casualty incidents has been
jointly developed by the European Commission and the European Burn Association.
Upon request for assistance by an affected country, the plan outlines a
mechanism for coordinated international assistance, aiming to alleviate the
burden of care in the affected country and to offer adequate specialized care to
all patients who can benefit from it. To that aim, Burn Assessment Teams are
deployed to assess and triage patients. Their transportation priority
recommendations are used to distribute outnumbering burn casualties to foreign
burn centers. Following an appropriate medical evacuation, these casualties
receive specialized care in those facilities.
METHODS: The European Burns Association's disaster committee developed
medical-organizational guidelines to support this European plan. The experts
identified fields of interest, defined questions to be addressed, performed
relevant literature searches, and added their expertise in burn disaster
preparedness and response. Due to the lack of high-level evidence in the
available literature, recommendations and specially designed implementation
tools were provided from expert opinion. The European Burns Association
officially endorsed the draft recommendations in 2019, and the final full text
was approved by the EBA executive committee in 2022.
RECOMMENDATIONS: The resulting 46 recommendations address four fields. Field 1
underlines the need for national preparedness plans and the necessary core items
within such plans, including coordination and integration with an international
response. Field 2 describes Burn Assessment Teams' roles, composition, training
requirements, and reporting goals. Field 3 addresses the goals of specialized
in-hospital triage, appropriate severity criteria, and their effects on
priorities and triage. Finally, field 4 covers medical evacuations, including
their timing and organization, the composition of evacuation teams and their
assets, preparation, and the principles of en route care.
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.burns.2022.12.011
PMID: 36702682 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors
declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be
considered as potential competing interests. Thomas Leclerc: no conflict of
interest to declare. Folke Sjöberg: no conflict of interest to declare. Serge
Jennes: no conflict of interest to declare. José Ramón Martinez-Mendez: no
conflict of interest to declare. Cornelis H. van der Vlies: no conflict of
interest to declare. Anna Battustitta: no conflict of interest to declare. J.
Alfonso Lozano-Basanta: no conflict of interest to declare. Naiem Moiememen: no
conflict of interest to declare. Stian K. Almeland: no conflict of interest to
declare.
