Prehospital Triage by Lay Person First Responders: A Scoping Review and Proposal for a new Prehospital Triage Tool.
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness · 2021-04-08 · Scoping review
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study is to review the available tools for prehospital triage in case of mass casualty incidents and secondly, to develop a tool which enables lay person first responders (LPFRs) to perform triage and start basic life support in mass casualty incidents. METHODS: In July 2019, online databases were consulted. Studies addressing prehospital triage methods for lay people were analyzed. Secondly, a new prehospital triage tool for LPFRs was developed. Therefore, a search for prehospital triage models available in literature was conducted and triage actions were extracted. RESULTS: The search resulted in 6188 articles, and after screening, a scoping review of 4 articles was conducted. All articles stated that there is great potential to provide accurate prehospital triage by people with no healthcare experience. Based on these findings, and combined with the pre-existing prehospital triage tools, we developed a, not-yet validated, prehospital triage tool for lay people, which may improve disaster awareness and preparedness and might positively contribute to community resilience. CONCLUSION: The prehospital triage tool for lay person first responders may be useful and may help professional medical first responders to determine faster, which casualties most urgently need help in a mass casualty incident.
Abstract © the authors or publisher, via PubMed. Reuse and removal
Tags
Bystanders · Mass casualty triage · Triage instruments
Related articles
- Emergency service experience following the terrorist attack in Mogadishu, 14 October 2017, a scene of lay rescuer triage. (Am J Emerg Med, 2021)
- Virtual Reality Simulation for Assessment of Hemorrhage Control and SALT Triage Performance: A Comparison of Prehospital to In-Hospital Emergency Responders. (Prehosp Disaster Med, 2025)
- Performance of First Aid Trained Staff using a Modified START Triage Tool at Achieving Appropriate Triage Compared to a Physiology-Based Triage Strategy at Australian Mass Gatherings. (Prehosp Disaster Med, 2020)
- First Responder Accuracy Using SALT during Mass-casualty Incident Simulation. (Prehosp Disaster Med, 2016)
- Field triage and patient maldistribution in a mass-casualty incident. (Prehosp Disaster Med, 2007)
- First Responder Accuracy Using SALT after Brief Initial Training. (Prehosp Disaster Med, 2015)