CONSIDERATIONS BY ROLE OF CARE
The approaches to an individual biological casualty and bioincidents outlined above are generic and can apply to all roles of care. The composition of a bioincident response, and the specific challenges faced, will vary based on many factors including the unit’s primary mission, available medical capabilities (including countermeasures), deployed location, and ability to transfer patients to a higher level of care. Units must consider the projected morbidity/mortality of the agent, the availability of MEDEVAC and resupply, and the impacts of ongoing operations during the logistics planning. Special care should be taken with patient handoffs to ensure accurate documentation is transferred with the patient(s). Contact tracing and monitoring of those potentially exposed may need to be performed both within the medical unit and throughout the medevac process. This has the potential to restrict movement of potentially exposed personnel and place a significant administrative burden on an already strained medical system. Collective Protection (COLPRO) is a unique consideration and is summarized in Appendix H.
Identification of the causative agent of a bioincident is extremely important, and medical personnel should understand the clinical laboratory capabilities by role of care and have appropriate supplies to transport clinical samples to those laboratories (Table 13). Capabilities in Table 13 have been generalized. For more detail, reference Service-specific resources.