Doctors and UCLA students in residency gathered in the emergency
department of UCLA Medical Center on Tuesday morning, not to deal
with patients but to learn how to handle a terrorist attack in the
event that such an incident occur in the Los Angeles area.
Standing in front of the room was visiting Israeli emergency
room physician Dr. Yosef Leibman of Sheba Medical Center, the third
largest hospital in the Middle East.
Leibman, originally from Philadelphia, completed medical school
in New York and has been living and working as an ER doctor in
Israel for the past seven years.
Leibman’s presentation included facts about the
region’s casualty statistics, a description of different
forms of terrorism and his personal experiences as an ER
doctor.
Leibman said he believed UCLA is not ready for a mass casualty
event and recommended the university create a computerized
simulation of a disaster to help the hospital prepare.
UCLA has an emergency plan in place, but Dr. Pamela Dyne,
residency director for emergency medicine at UCLA, said she wants
to assign specific roles to individual doctors, nurses and medical
students to better the already existing emergency plans.
These individuals could then practice their roles through
simulations.
She said the disasters that UCLA ER has dealt with at the
hospital are different than those in Israel. The UCLA hospital has
dealt with disasters such as earthquakes; a disaster plan already
exists for that kind of situation.
Leibman said the UCLA medical center could take the methods
Israeli doctors use in Sheba and apply them to facilities and
resources in Los Angeles.
With 1,200 beds, Sheba Medical Center is about twice the size of
UCLA’s 600-bed hospital and caters to a wide range of
patients from all over the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
But Leibman said a hospital of any size falls short in personnel
and resources during a disaster such as a suicide bombing.
Marshall Morgan, chief of emergency medicine at UCLA, said he is
glad UCLA ER has not had to deal with any acts of terror.
He added that Leibman’s visit is part of ongoing
preparations for a terrorist attack, and the emergency unit has
been more focused on terrorism issues since the Sep. 11, 2001
attacks.
The event serves as a curriculum lecture and is a part of
general education for students in their residency, Morgan
added.
The other way UCLA medical center is preparing for a possible
attack is through a disaster committee that meets periodically and
has two or more drills per year.
They also work with fake patients, and their drills include
participation by the police and fire departments.
Working with police and even the Israel Defense Force is how
Sheba deals with Israel’s frequent terrorist attacks.
Leibman said the hospital is no longer overwhelmed by the number
of patients brought in after an attack since the protocol is well
in place.
“Terrorism is a legacy of the country,” Leibman
said.
He added things have been like this for some time in Israel, but
the United States suddenly woke up to terrorism after Sept. 11.
Despite the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,
Leibman said there are no politics involved with his job. He and
his co-workers deal with both sides, sometimes without even knowing
the identity of the victims they are treating.
Leibman is also the secretary and an executive board member of
the Israeli Association of Emergency Medicine, and is the founder
and editor-in-chief of the Israeli Journal of Emergency
Medicine.