"Triage of trauma victims is the process of rapidly and accurately evaluating patients to determine the extent of their injuries and the appropriate level of medical care required."
- UpToDate
Essentially we are trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people in mass casualty incidents.
Many forms of triage exist, however NYC uses a modified START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) assessment including the color Orange.
Goal of all these systems is to prioritize patients most likely to survive.
The algorithm for the Modified NYC START assessment is based on
ambulation, respiration, perfusion, and mental status
. Patients are assigned to the following categories:
Black: Dead
Red: Critical - Immediate Transport
Orange:Urgent - Urgent Transport
Yellow: Serious - Delayed Transport
Green: Not serious - Delayed Transport
* Viable infants<1 Yr Red tagged; non-viable black tagged.
* Note orange is unique to NYC and many other places triage as yellow/red.
Key Points:
Remember
greatest good for greatest number.
Protect yourself
; if you aren't alive to treat, you're no good.
Triage on scene
to avoid overloading local hospital(s).
Designate bystander police for
crowd control
and direction of "green" patients to further hospitals (out of boro).
Minimize over-triaging.