Triage during mass gatherings

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Public Health
• Disaster Management

Background:

• Triage is essential for resource allocation, with extensive research in emergency departments and mass-casualty incidents.
• Limited research exists for mass-gathering events, despite high patient presentation rates and potential for critical illness.
• Current triage systems are suboptimal for mass gatherings, often biased toward trauma and ignoring factors like substance use and environmental exposures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature on triage systems for mass gatherings.
• To propose a novel triage and acuity scoring system tailored for mass-gathering events.
• To develop a system applicable to mass-casualty incidents and disaster responses.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of existing triage systems and their applicability to mass gatherings.
• Analysis of the unique challenges posed by mass-gathering events, including high patient presentation rates and specific health needs.
• Development of a proposed triage system addressing limitations of current approaches.

Main Results:

• Existing triage systems are often inadequate for mass gatherings, leading to over-triage and resource misallocation.
• Current systems may overlook crucial factors like alcohol/drug use and environmental exposures.
• A need exists for a standardized triage language across multiple responding agencies during mass-casualty incidents.

Conclusions:

• A new triage and acuity scoring system is proposed for mass-gathering events.
• The proposed system aims to improve resource allocation and address the unique patient population at large events.
• This system can also be utilized in mass-casualty incidents and disaster response scenarios, promoting a common triage language.