S.T.A.R.T. Triage Training Program

 START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) The START system, developed by Hoag Hospital and the Newport Beach Fire Department (Newport Beach, CA), helps prepare emergency personnel to quickly organize their resources to handle multi-casualty emergencies. Using START, various agencies and individuals assume predetermined roles in managing the emergency, on-scene personnel quickly evaluate the situation and call in the appropriate extra resources and assign them specific tasks. Because of the planning and training that are the core of the START system, agencies and individuals know what they are expected to do when they arrive at the scene.

The triage portion of START, which is the focus of this training program, relies on making a rapid assessment (taking less than a minute) of every patient, determining which of four categories patients should be in, and visibly identifying the categories for rescuers who will treat the patients.

Golden hour

The Golden hour refers to a concept that a trauma patient has the best chance for recovery if he or she can get to Advanced Trauma Life Support within one hour from the time of the injury. Obviously, those who are most seriously injured have the least time. When there are multiple victims, the Golden Hour can slip away because there aren’t enough rescuers for each victim.

New Orleans: site of the largest medical triage and evacuation in history, 11,000 people in 4 days.