Mass Casualty Triage – A bit of SALT

Triage is a fast, challenging and unforgiving dance with life and death. Those who have the task will carry the memory of the decisions they were forced to make forever. SALT, which stands for Sort, Assess, Lifesaving interventions, Treatment and/or transport is the four step process for responders to manage mass casualty incidents proposed by the National Association of EMS Physicians as part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored project to use the best available science and expert opinion to develop a standard guideline for mass casualty management.

Triage

Triage

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Public Emergency Departments (ED)
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Trained in Triage
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Emergency Health Care Providers Trained

Triage is a process by which patients are prioritized and classified according to type and urgency of their conditions.

Our Triage program provides emergency departments with Vital Sign Monitors and trains healthcare workers in these departments on how to perform Triage. Our commitment to improving emergency care across Kenya has led to the increased use of triage in emergency care centres to prioritise patient care requirements, especially in rural Kenya.

 

The Emergency Department (ED) Triage Course enables Emergency Departments (ED) to:

  • Prioritize patient care requirements
  • Examine patient care processes, workload, and resource requirements relative to case mix and community needs

The ED Triage Course allows ED nurses and clinicians to:

  • Triage patients according to the type and severity of their presenting signs and symptoms
  • Ensure that the sickest patients are seen first 
  • Ensure that a patient’s need for care is reassessed while in the ED

The ED Triage Course allows ED managers to:

  • Measure the case mix (volume and acuity) of patients who visit the ED
  • Determine whether the ED has an operational plan and the resources to meet patient needs
  • Assess the ED’s role within the hospital and the county

This course discusses the goals of triage; the role and responsibilities of the triage nurse; describes the triage process; as well as the five levels of triage, and provides an opportunity to apply this knowledge to numerous case studies to increase the reliability and validity.

Learning Resources