Re: San A - Training deficit?

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10-Jan-08 09:19:04 Central Standard Time,

larn572001@... writes:

Triage is a continuing process; conditions change and transport priorities

change as well, depending on response to the treatment. No patient wears a

black, red, yellow or green tag permanently. While this is a (HOPEFULLY) rare

and sad case, this could possibly have been avoided had there been

reinforcement of the dynamic nature of an MCI. Consider this the next time you

teach

triage; I am going to work this into the table top exercises I use when

teaching

triage / ICS / MCI.

I completely agree with you, Larry. if you look back, that was one of my

first questions when this came up...did anyone go back and recheck the last

patient (and double check to see if there were any more patients) after the

initial triage sweep?

I hope that the Medic admin folks at SATX end up using this as a training

tool...we don't learn much from our successes, but our failures give us an

opportunity to improve the system...if we learn from them.

ck

S. Krin, DO FAAFP

**************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.

http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

[Guest guest]

I don't want to judge the medic involved, I wasn't there. However, I have a

question of the instructors in our midst. I am wondering if we are teaching

triage and MCI procedures correctly. This may sound far-fetched, but hear me

out.

Triage, as we have all heard, is 'doing the most good, for the most patients,

with the available resources'. So, Joe Medic tells all the 'green tags' to come

to the front of the ambulance, 'starts where he stands' and does the scene

recce / triage to qualify / quantify the patients. He sees 'brain matter', but

does he stop the 15 seconds or so to see if she is actually breathing, or

reposition the airway? No, I think he 'black tagged' her in his mind. He had

'available resources' floating high in his mind. But, once the initial triage is

complete, was there follow-up?

The scene is dynamic; more resourses are arriving. Did Joe Medic report back

to the IC the number and category of all patients, especally the 'black tagged'

patient? Did the patient get rechecked? Bad as it sounds, she may have had

agonal respirations and could have been cared for by the additional resources

arriving.

Triage is a continuing process; conditions change and transport priorities

change as well, depending on response to the treatment. No patient wears a

black, red, yellow or green tag permanently. While this is a (HOPEFULLY) rare

and sad case, this could possibly have been avoided had there been reinforcement

of the dynamic nature of an MCI. Consider this the next time you teach triage; I

am going to work this into the table top exercises I use when teaching triage /

ICS / MCI.

Larry RN, EMT-P

Lead EMS Instructor

NCTI-Houston

" A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the

simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. " Proverbs 22:3

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