Triage in Disaster

Aim. The purpose of this paper is to describe different types of primary triage methods that are common and applicable in disaster scene in order to familiarize medical team personnel with these methods.Background. Disaster occurrence is rising all over the world. Primary assessment, treatment and transfer of victims to the medical centers which are away from the disaster scene is important considerations for first responder teams in response phase of disaster management cycle. In this regard, triage is an efficient tool for mass casualty management for which different strategies have been recommended in various countries.Method. In this review, published articles from 1995 to August 2013 were searched in Ovid, Science Direct, Google Scholar and PubMed data bases by using the keywords Triage, On-scene and Disaster.Findings. Based on search strategy, 50 English articles were found. Finally, 6 commonly adults triage methods and 2 pediatric triage methods were chosen to be described in this paper.Conclusion. Regarding the sudden nature of disaster and creating chaos following them, it is necessary for medical team members to apply the appropriate tools for managing mass casualties in attention to limited resources and the large number of victims. In order to perform proper triage method and reduce the amount of error in this procedure, it is necessary to educate correct practices of applicable triage methods to medical team members, Red Crescent workers and volunteers.