NIGHTINGALE Project is developing and integrating new tools for the management of medical emergencies during big disasters, useful for emergency medical staff and non-medical civil protection agencies (firefighters, police and personal search and rescue) but also volunteers and citizens! The III Lubjiana roundtable - held last 5th and 6th of May 2023 - was a perfect opportunity for end-users of these tools to review the progress made and discuss recommendations for the technical partners, who are developing them, for the next phase of the project. A session was dedicated to future planning for small - and full-scale exercises that would help to test and validate the NIGHTINGALE tools and solutions for triage and emergency response during mass casualty incidents (MCIs).

Following the roundtable discussion, Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network presented, during the Disaster and Military Medicine section of the European Congress of Trauma and Emergency Surgery 2023 (ESTES), the citizens' role in disasters management with the presentation "How I see the role of citizens in mass casualty incidents". Remembering that ordinary citizens are not only affected by these incidents, but they are the first ones on the disaster scene and, in most cases, the ones who have to rebuild their lives in that place. Citizens represent one of the life-saving stakeholders on the scene and, trained or not, they take decisions and share local knowledge and resources. Mass casualty preparedness and management must also mean preparing and engaging citizens. To know more, click here.