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Mass Casualty Triage: An Evaluation of the Science and Refinement of a National Guideline

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

E. Brooke Lerner ,
David C. Cone ,
Eric S. Weinstein ,
Richard B. Schwartz ,
Phillip L. Coule ,
Michael Cronin ,
Ian S. Wedmore ,
Eileen M. Bulger ,
Deborah Ann Mulligan  and
Raymond E. Swienton
...Show all authors
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Abstract

Mass casualty triage is the process of prioritizing multiple victims when resources are not sufficient to treat everyone immediately. No national guideline for mass casualty triage exists in the United States. The lack of a national guideline has resulted in variability in triage processes, tags, and nomenclature. This variability has the potential to inject confusion and miscommunication into the disaster incident, particularly when multiple jurisdictions are involved. The Model Uniform Core Criteria for Mass Casualty Triage were developed to be a national guideline for mass casualty triage to ensure interoperability and standardization when responding to a mass casualty incident. The Core Criteria consist of 4 categories: general considerations, global sorting, lifesaving interventions, and individual assessment of triage category. The criteria within each of these categories were developed by a workgroup of experts representing national stakeholder organizations who used the best available science and, when necessary, consensus opinion. This article describes how the Model Uniform Core Criteria for Mass Casualty Triage were developed.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:129-137)

Keywords

Model Uniform Core Criteria for Mass Casualty TriagetriageguidelinesrespondersSALT Triagemass casualty incidentsalgorithmsUnited Statestask performance and analysisdisaster response
Type
Special Focus
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 129 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2011

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