RAMP Triage: Treating Multiple Casualties

Have you ever had to treat multiple casualties at once?

Do you feel prepared if you were first on scene to a mass casualty incident such as a multi-motor vehicle accident or a disaster such as a building collapse?

As a first responder, or even just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may be one of the first on scene and be required to undertake the critical task of choosing who needs treatment & transport first. This is called Triage.

Triage: Originating from French for Sorting/Sifting. Triage can be defined as the sorting of patients according to the urgency of their need for care.

Triage is a process and skill that many first responders have some level of training but often only theoretical. Additionally, first responders often don't train for mass casualties due to the complexities and logistics of setting up realistic training scenario's (even though studies have shown that we're not that good at it and often over or under triage).

There are a number of triage systems out there. But at TacMed, we're a big fan of RAMP Triage.

Rather than try explain in a blog, see the below video presentation from the developer of RAMP, Brad Keating.