ED Triage, Surge Criteria, and Mass Casualty Lecture Powerpoint

Question 1

Triage definition

Answer 1

Process of sorting/assessing the urgency of an illness or wound in order to decide the order of treatment

Question 2

Emergency Severity Index (ESI)

Answer 2

5 level triage algorithm that provides clinically relevant stratification of patients into 5 groups, with 1 being the most severely unstable needing immediate intervention and majority are admitted, 2 are potentially unstable and need to be seen within 10 minutes, often requiring lab testing and admission, 3 are stable and should be seen urgently within 30 minutes, often require lab testing and medication and most often are discharged, 4 is stable and may be seen nonurgently require minimal testing or procedure and are expected to be discharged, 5 may be seen nonurgently and require no testing or a procedure, often need prescription refill, are expected to be discharged

Question 3

Danger zone vital signs

Answer 3

• HR >100
• RR >20
• SBP <90
• SaO2 <92%

Question 4

Undertriaging and overtriaging

Answer 4

Risk for patient deteriorating while waiting vs using limited resources and taking up a bed for another patient that may require immediate care

Question 5

Mass casualty situation

Answer 5

Tag individuals who will not be worth the resources to save, dead or dying (black tagged), get those that are critical immediately into hospital (red tagged), get those that have more time on the back burner (yellow tagged) or those that are walking wounded who are seen last or can bring themselves somewhere for treatment (green tagged)