A large, warm, well lit and equipped space with telephones is used as triage area. Communication with the operating suites and intensive care unit should be easy. Casualities are registered and dispatched. To avoid families accumulating in the triage area, a specific place should be provided for them. Administrators inform families of the status of their relatives.
Stable patients have to be discharged, and elective surgical procedures cancelled.
Shifts of teams are planned and instituted. Accomodation and food are provided for the resting teams Multidisciplinary Teams Specialized surgeons and physicians have to adapt themselves to the pathology presented by the casualities. Under the direction of the specialists concerned, all the medical and surgical staff participate in the care even if the injuries are outside their specialization. Stock Control Pharmaceutical and material reserves of the hospital have to be supplied. Disaster sets prepared beforehand and immediately available allow some autonomy and flexibility.