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Perceived prehospital delays in trauma mass casualty incidents

Pre-hospital care delays in trauma-related mass casualty incidents: a comparative international survey of high-income and low- and middle-income country perspectives
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine · Added 27 July 2026

Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) place substantial demands on pre-hospital systems.

Study type

Cross-sectional

Design

Cross-sectional international online survey

Participants

225 prehospital providers from 54 countries (158 high-income, 67 low- and middle-income)

Main finding

Poor communication (84%) and geographical challenges (80%) most cited delay factors; equipment inadequacy cited by 75% of LMIC vs 46% of HIC respondents; regular training (95%) and prior MCI experience (90%) endorsed as optimising factors.

Caveat

Self-selected survey sample reflecting perceptions, not measured delays.

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Recognise the system and communication factors that delay prehospital trauma care during mass casualty incidents.

More

• Topic: Operations & systems
• Daily scan: 27 July 2026

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