Application of the Swiss Military "Cycle of Leadership" to the medical management of Mass Casualities Incidents

The medical and health leaders, engaged in disaster situations and major incidents often express their difficulties in organizing their thinking and decision-making.
The Swiss military term "rythme de conduite" describes a way of reasoning and managing, that allow to organize in space and time the command’s activities, going from the knowledge of the incident to the orders, especially in crisis situations, like natural or industrial disasters.
This military approach allows to integrate systematically the elements leading to the decision-making. We suggest using this military concept to the situations of mass casualities incidents.
Thus, the medical services faced with pre-hospital emergency situations will also discover the leading strategy used by military and civilian partners (fire services and police).
This technique will help health leaders to become better integrated in the command structures and to respond appropriately at a medical level to major incidents or disasters.
Military doctors are already familiar with such approach and will find a reminder of military response and its transposition to the medical context.