Developing a Mobile Application to Enhance Mass Casualty Event Preparedness and Response

Background:  In an instant, an explosion can produce mass casualties and complex injuries. Response to a terrorist use of explosives (TUE) or other mass casualty event is complicated by interruptions in communication lines; transportation of casualties, personnel, and supplies; and overwhelmed capacities of responding health systems. In recent years, TUE events worldwide have indicated an urgent need to enhance preparedness and management capabilities of responding health systems. In a TUE event, prehospital and hospital care providers and public health field staff require clear, concise, up-to-date, information to assess and treat blast injuries.

Program background:  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (CDC NCIPC) has partnered with professional organizations and content experts to develop materials about how to identify and deal with health systems and clinical care issues related to terrorist bombing preparedness and response.  NCIPC has developed an electronic educational tool to organize these materials. The tool may improve efficiency and timeliness of obtaining information with less burden than other methods, while assisting with preparedness, response, and clinical management of injuries resulting from terrorist or other mass casualty events.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  A mobile application was developed using a series of activities. A literature scan identified existing informational and interactive resources about management of blast injuries and needs of public health practitioners, emergency responders, and clinicians when preparing for and responding to blast injury and other mass casualty TUE events. Findings showed that CDC NCIPC’s resources were the most frequently referenced on this topic and suggested that an easy to use electronic tool could support providers in overcoming challenges in a TUE event response. A series of stakeholder interviews were conducted with leaders in the fields of public health emergency operations and prehospital and hospital care. Interviews addressed information preferences and needs of target audiences, format and accessibility needs, insight on the effectiveness of CDC developing a mobile application, and recommendations for product dissemination. Interviews, coupled with findings of the environmental scan, informed content development, structure, and interactive components for the tool. Product testing will be conducted to assess the usability and effectiveness of the mobile application in meeting audiences’ needs. 

Conclusions:  CDC’s mobile application for TUE event preparedness and response will fill a gap in resources available to support immediate triage to help save lives and reduce morbidity. Electronic resources such as a mobile application allow users immediate access to known and trusted decision-making guidance related to clinical management of TUE events. 

Implications for research and/or practice:  This project highlights the potential for mobile technology to address a critical gap in resources related to the clinical management of blast injuries. It also demonstrates the importance of formative research to inform understanding of target audiences’ needs and the development of a tool grounded in this knowledge. The presentation will include a demonstration of the draft mobile application. Disclaimer:  The findings and conclusions in this presentation are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.