As noted, there is a requirement for appropriate holding facilities to which patients who cannot be treated immediately or who require only minimal treatment can be evacuated. These facilities should be set up with limited equipment and staffed with small numbers of medical personnel, and should be part of the expansion plans of all field hospitals regardless of size or location. Holding facilities should be as close to hospitals as possible so as to optimize the availability of appropriate additional care and to allow the transfer of patients as the overall situation and balance between medical resources and patient load change. Minimal burns Mild trauma cases Mild chemical injury cases. Severely injured patients who arc not expected to survive and for whom treatment is not immediately available, but for whom supportive measures may be enough to keep them alive until treatment does become available.
Radiation injury introduces many complications into the patient's course.
Hematologic injuries cause anemia, infection, bleeding, and delayed wound healing. Performance decrements due largely to neuromediator release can also impact the patient. At higher doses of radiation, dehydration due to severe fluid and electrolyte losses through the intestinal wall will be encountered. After conventional injuries have been managed, the physician is faced with the problem of triaging the patients according to the severity of their radiation injuries so that appropriate treatment can begin. U.S. forces do not carry individual personal dosimeters that measure neutron and photon exposures.