Not war, not terrorism, the impact of hybrid warfare on emergency medicine

• Published in: The American journal of emergency medicine 2022-12, Vol.62, p.96-100
• Main Authors: Granholm, Fredrik, Tin, Derrick, Ciottone, Gregory R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; Civilians; Counter-terrorism medicine; Criminality; Disaster medicine; Disruptive innovation; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Emergency medicine; Emergency services; Explosives; Health care; Health facilities; Hospitals; Hybrid warfare; Keywords; Mass casualty incidents; Medicine; Mortality; Ransomware; Security systems; Terrorism; War
• ISSN: 0735-6757; 1532-8171
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2022.10.021

Healthcare facilities and medical providers are not immune to aggression and threat from terrorists, criminals and rogue states. The concept of Hybrid Warfare is often described as a mix of conventional warfare, irregular warfare, terrorism, criminality and different types of other hybrid threats such as cyberattacks and drone technology. Healthcare systems can either be primary or secondary targets of hybrid warfare with potentially devastating consequences. The aim of this paper is to serve as a primer for clinicians, researchers and emergency managers in understanding the basic aspects of hybrid warfare, how healthcare can be affected, and to provide a framework for mitigation and resilience, especially in an emergency medicine setting. Different hybrid threats and their effect on emergency medicine, and healthcare in general, is discussed. Hybrid warfare is an increasing, multimodal, threat for all segments of healthcare, particularly prehospital care and emergency medicine. Disrupting the healthcare system in a country using hybrid warfare has the ultimate aim of destabilizing organizations and society as well as directly reducing the effectiveness and capabilities of healthcare as a key strategic resource. In this aspect prehospital care and emergency medicine are main targets of aggression. Clinicians and healthcare managers of all levels should have a basic knowledge of the different components of hybrid warfare so as to mitigate effects of an attack. It is suggested that an emergency department do not aim to create totally new solutions for hybrid threats but use an all hazards approach and the available guidelines for handling generic threats. However, there must be a preparedness for the different ways hybrid warfare can play out, how the threats can be combined in synergistic ways and the potential compounding effects on healthcare and society.