Do they really triage like in 'Trauma'?

[Beachlife!]

I'm watching Trauma at the moment and they are dealing with a mass shooting. The first thing the EMTs did on the scene was lay out three tarps: green, yellow and red. As they came across each patient they evaluated them and then told them to go sit on one of the tarps.

Is that really how that situation would be handled? It seems so odd and impersonal. I would also think that people would be stabilized and moved to the hospital rather than moved to a red tarp. And if I was on the green tarp I think I'd just go home.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

I'm watching Trauma at the moment and they are dealing with a mass shooting. The first thing the EMTs did on the scene was lay out three tarps: green, yellow and red. As they came across each patient they evaluated them and then told them to go sit on one of the tarps.

Is that really how that situation would be handled? It seems so odd and impersonal. I would also think that people would be stabilized and moved to the hospital rather than moved to a red tarp. And if I was on the green tarp I think I'd just go home.

My experience with mass casualty situations has been limited to drills, but yeah, that's pretty much what they do. They do a fairly cursory first glance to find those who are dead, those who are alive but seriously wounded, and then the walking wounded.

Once that first go-through is done, then they start a more thorough assessment, starting with the most seriously wounded first and then the walking wounded.

Triage isn't meant to be personal; it's meant to save the most people possible in the least amount of time possible.

[lord_feldon]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

It seems so odd and impersonal.

Being personal is probably a secondary consideration in situations like that.

[Bettie Page Turner]

Yep, that's about right, although the drills I have seen used tags. Mass triage isn't about therapeutic communication, it's about saving the mostest the fastest.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Bettie Page Turner

Yep, that's about right, although the drills I have seen used tags. Mass triage isn't about therapeutic communication, it's about saving the mostest the fastest.

If they put the tag on your toe, that's a bad sign, isn't it?

[Dark Blue]

I havnt seen the show, but it sounds roughly consistent with teh START triage method. It is the method we train for/ use here. I've only been on one Mass Casualty Incident where it was nessessary to use it, but my observation was that it worked quite well.

More information on it here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_...apid_treatment

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

It seems so odd and impersonal.

It sort of has to be impersonal in mass casualty situations. They can't afford to get caught up in the emotional aspects of it if they want to be able to effectively make what may amount to some pretty cold-hearted decisions in order to serve the greater good. They may very well have to decide that some of the most severely wounded are too time and resource consuming to save, because with those resources and time they can save 5 slightly less wounded people who will very likely survive if they get treatment , as opposed to 1 who will likely die no matter what they do. It is easier to keep your head and make hard decisions when you think of them as a crushing chest wound, rather than as a pretty young schoolteacher who is a mother of three little kids.

[BamaRainbow]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

If they put the tag on your toe, that's a bad sign, isn't it?

Only if you see or feel them doing it. And even more so if nobody answers when you scream, "WTF are you f***ers doing with that f***ing toetag?"

[Insensible Crier]

Originally Posted by Bettie Page Turner

Yep, that's about right, although the drills I have seen used tags. Mass triage isn't about therapeutic communication, it's about saving the mostest the fastest.

Tags are what I see on the TV shows (like ER) so I don't know how real it is or if it's outdated. They would use colored tags to mean different things. Green meant okay. Yellow meant stable but could become critical. Red meant critical and needed immediate attention. Black meant deceased.

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by geminilee

They may very well have to decide that some of the most severely wounded are too time and resource consuming to save, because with those resources and time they can save 5 slightly less wounded people who will very likely survive if they get treatment , as opposed to 1 who will likely die no matter what they do.

This is the sad truth. It is far more efficient to save many people than to expent time, effort, and supplied on someone who cannot be saved. It is coldhearted, but in a situation like that, efficiency is what saves lives, not compassion.

The people who can do this work are much better people than I am. I don't know if I could make these kinds of decision or how I could sleep at night after I've made them. Sometimes, when you wake up in the dead of night covered in sweat, the fact that you did the right thing is a small consolation.