Predictive Situation Display for Emergency Medical Services: Situational Awareness in Multi-Casualty Incidents

The management of a multi-casualty incident (MCI) requires effective situational awareness. This paper describes the design and test of a situation display for the dispatch center of emergency medical services during the MCI. The display consists of areas showing the amount and locations of vehicles en-route to the incident area, statistics about vehicles and casualties on site, and state of hospitals and evacuating vehicles. The display also includes predictive elements. The study shows that the presence of the predictive elements facilitated more correct responses to situational awareness probes, particularly those requiring projection. In addition, the findings show that the predictive elements facilitated more correct responses to situation management questions.