What is a key component of triage in a mass casualty incident?

• A. Use START criteria to categorize by urgency (Immediate/red, Delayed/yellow, Minor/green, Expectant/black); prioritize treatment and transport.
• B. Use the Glasgow Coma Scale alone to triage.
• C. Use APACHE II scoring for mass casualty triage.
• D. Triage is based solely on patient age.

Answer: (A)

In a mass casualty scenario, the goal is to sort patients quickly by how urgently they need life-saving care so limited resources go to those who can benefit most. The method used is Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START), which quickly places people into Immediate, Delayed, Minor, and Expectant categories and guides who to treat and transport first. The process focuses on fast, triage-by-criteria decisions rather than full diagnoses, often starting with whether the patient can walk, then evaluating breathing, perfusion, and mental status to assign the appropriate category. This approach is tailored for speed and scarce resources, helping responders maximize survivors on a chaotic scene. Other approaches aren’t suitable for field triage in mass casualty events: relying on a single brain-injury scale takes too long and isn’t practical for large numbers; ICU scoring systems are designed for hospital settings, not field triage; and basing decisions on age alone ignores injury severity and survivability, which would lead to inefficient use of help and resources.