Dubai EMS Protocols & Mass Casualty Management Flashcards

The JumpSTART triage system, as opposed to START, is designed for use with:

Answer: Paediatric casualties (under 8 years or under 40kg) in mass casualty incidents

JumpSTART adapts the START system for children, incorporating age-specific vital sign norms and the option to give 5 rescue breaths before categorising a non-breathing child as Expectant (unlike adults where non-breathing = Expectant immediately).

In a mass casualty incident (MCI), the Medical Incident Commander (MIC) is responsible for:

Answer: Overall coordination of medical resources at the scene, communicating with hospitals and ICS command

The MIC coordinates all medical resources, communicates patient counts and severity to receiving hospitals, liaises with the Incident Command System (ICS), and manages sector medical officers — not individual patient care.

The Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) is responsible for which function at a major incident?

Answer: Fire suppression, decontamination, urban search and rescue — separate from DCAS medical function

DCD handles fire, hazardous materials decontamination, and search and rescue operations; DCAS provides medical care — the two agencies operate distinct roles under integrated incident command at major incidents.

At a hazardous materials (HazMat) incident, medical treatment of casualties begins in the:

Answer: Cold zone (clean zone) — after decontamination in the warm zone, before entering the cold zone

Paramedics and medical personnel operate in the cold zone (safe/clean area), treating decontaminated casualties; entering the hot zone requires specialist chemical/hazmat personal protective equipment not typically carried by DCAS crews.

Under Dubai's MCI protocols, hospital pre-notification provides receiving facilities with:

Answer: Number of casualties, triage category distribution, and estimated time of arrival for resource preparation

Pre-notification allows hospitals to activate major incident protocols, summon additional staff, prepare operating theatres, and organise resuscitation teams before casualties arrive, maximising hospital surge capacity.

The 'expectant' category in MCI triage includes patients who:

Answer: Have injuries so severe that survival is unlikely even with intensive treatment, or would consume resources disproportionate to benefit when others could be saved

Expectant designation reflects utilitarian triage ethics in resource-scarce MCI scenarios — patients with unsurvivable injuries or those requiring resources that would save multiple other lives are tagged black and given comfort measures only.