Triage disaster

Describe the differences among daily hospital triage, mass casualty incident triage, disaster triage, tactical-military triage, and special conditions (hazmat) triage. 

Triage The sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients, particularly in warfare or disasters, according to a system of priorities according to the urgency of their need for care designed to maximize the numbers of survivors. 

Develop disaster nursing databases for notification, mobilization, and triage of emergency nurse staffing resources. 

A comprehensive disaster plan will account for the effective triage of patients (prioritization for care and transport of patients) and distribution of patients to hospitals (a coordinated, even distribution of patients to several hospitals as opposed to delivering most of the patients to the closest hospital). Review of previous disaster response efforts reveals that patients are frequently... 

Resources within the affected disaster area will be inadequate to clear casualties from the scene or treat them in local hospitals. Additional mobilized federal capabilities will be urgently needed to assist state and local governments to triage and treat casualties in the... 

Action Provide federal medical response assets and individual public health and medical personnel to assist in providing care for ill or injured victims at the location of a disaster or emergency. DMATs and Federal Medical Shelters can provide triage, medical or surgical stabilization, and continued monitoring and care of patients until they can be evacuated to locations where they will... 

Tzong-Luen, W., Chi-Ren, H. (2005). Appraisal of field triage in mass casualty incidents in Tapei. Annals of Disaster Medicine, 3(2), 69-75. 

Triage is the cornerstone of good disaster resource management. 

The performance of accurate triage provides nurses and other responders with the opportunity to do the greatest good for the greatest number of casualties. Disaster triage is employed when the type or amount of resources that are required are unavailable to provide immediate care on a timely basis to all victims needing such care. 

Performing triage under disaster conditions requires a paradigm shift on the part of disaster response nurses and other first responders, and its success may be highly dependent on compliance with disaster triage protocols. 

There are several models available for disaster/mass casualty triage, and nurses need to be aware of them and the appropriate indications for their use. 

Understand the situations in which each model of disaster triage is used. 

Explain the criteria for each of the basic disaster triage levels. 

Differentiate between the START, JUMPSTART and START-SAVE disaster triage systems and describe the indications for each model. 

Tactical-military triage is similar to disaster triage, only military mission objectives rather than traditional civilian guidelines drive the triage and transport decisions. 

However, it is essential that the triage nurse be prepared to utilize an infectious disease triage model algorithm when triaging during an infectious disease disaster. Should such a situation occur, the algorithm to be used will likely be issued by the state or territorial department of health in concert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Basic Differences Between Daiiy and Disaster Triage... 

Basic Steps for Disaster Triage in a Hospital Setting... 

What is deemed to be a disaster for one facility may be routine operations for another facility. For example, a large emergency department with an annual volume of more than 100,000 patients per year may not commence disaster operations for the arrival of 10 trauma victims. However, such a number may be overwhelming and require disaster resources for the same number of victims in a smaller facility. Regardless of the size of the facility, each must have in place a system to recognize when the existing resources are likely to be exceeded and be able to implement disaster triage and operations at a moment s notice. 

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