Prehospital triage for mass casualties
E. Brooke Lerner
Search for more papers by this authorRichard B. Schwartz
Search for more papers by this authorRyan Carter
Search for more papers by this authorKunal Chadha
Search for more papers by this authorE. Brooke Lerner
Search for more papers by this authorRichard B. Schwartz
Search for more papers by this authorRyan Carter
Search for more papers by this authorKunal Chadha
Search for more papers by this authorDavid C. Cone MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
Search for more papers by this authorJane H. Brice MD, MPH
Professor of Emergency Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Search for more papers by this authorTheodore R. Delbridge MD, MPH
Executive Director
Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, Baltimore, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Brent Myers MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer ESO Associate Medical Director
Wake County EMS, Raleigh, North Carolina
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
During mass casualty incidents, the demands placed on health systems outweigh available resources. The only way to ensure that the greatest number of patients survives is to prioritize who gets treated and evacuated first. This is accomplished by mass casualty triage where casualties are sorted by the severity of their wounds and assigned priorities for care and evacuation. Events such as hurricane Katrina, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the Pulse Night Club shooting have emphasized the necessity of having systems for sorting casualties. There are several primary triage systems in existence. In the United States, it is recommended that the primary triage system used meet, at a minimum, the Model Uniform Core Criteria.
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