How to Start Triage Training
Triage involves making critical decisions in extreme medical emergencies. The person who performs this task takes responsibility for labeling whether a victim requires minor care, significant care, immediate care or are deceased and require no care. The enormous responsibility of triage usually falls on the first trained person to respond to the incident site. In such chaotic and intense situations, this person must have strong training and be able to maintain clarity of purpose to save the greatest number of victims. The START (simple triage and rapid treatment) system is one of many protocols designed to provide clear, basic triage guidelines for people with even a minimum of medical training.
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Things You'll Need
- Completed medical or first aid skills training course
- Completed triage course
- Triage tags
- Personal universal precaution gear
Instructions
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How to Start Triage Training
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Take a basic first responder medical aid class if you do not already have other medical training. Many of these are offered free or at a reasonable cost from your local American Red Cross chapter, hospital or emergency services center. In order to perform even the most basic triage, you will need to be able to ascertain respiration rates, clear airways, check perfusion and pulse rates and determine the victim's mental alertness. These are basic minimums required by the START protocol and many other triage systems.
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Enroll in one of the many courses designed specifically to teach triage skills. Your local hospital, fire department or emergency-management system personnel may be able to provide information on classes being taught in your location. You may be able to qualify for a scholarship from one of these organizations to cover the cost of your training in exchange for your volunteer services to that group.
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Take advantage of any disaster or emergency simulations that are held in your area. In the heat of an actual emergency, it is unfortunately easy to become overwhelmed and temporarily forget what you have learned. Practical experience with even simulated triage events will help to cement the skills and procedures in your mind, enabling you to function better when under extreme stress.
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Learn how the emergency command system works in your area. Know which agencies provide which services and where you fit in. In many areas, it is illegal for an independent individual to begin to render aid separate from one of the agencies connected with the official chain of command. While at first glance this seems restrictive and counterproductive, it actually helps to prevent good Samaritans with more good intentions than proper training from possibly causing more harm than good and also bars those who would take advantage of victims instead of helping them.
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Continue to increase your knowledge of first aid, emergency response and triage criteria. Every bit of knowledge you can bring to an emergency situation stands to benefit the victims. New research and procedural updates surface frequently and it is important to stay current in your knowledge base.
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Tips & Warnings
Participate in as many emergency drills as you can so that your response will be as instinctive and as correct as possible and geared closely to hazards common to your locality.
If you are employed in the health care field, talk to your employer about providing triage training to your entire organization.
Do not attempt to perform triage unless you have the necessary level of medical training.
Always make sure the situation and environment are safe before approaching and beginning triage. You cannot help if you become one of the victims.
Do not act independently of the chain of command. You may inadvertently endanger victims further by adding to the inherent confusion of a multiple-casualty incident.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit rescue team image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com
