Battlefield triage

Abstract

Triage is a process of sorting the casualties according to the severity of injury and the prioritisation of treatment or evacuation. Historically, triage in military action responds to several issues: maintaining the number of soldiers, humanitarian concerns and logistical constraints. This concept of triage has been extended to unusual situations (natural disasters, industrial accidents, terrorist bombings) which generate an unpredictable influx of victims, isolated or repetitive, sometimes aggravated by panic and insecurity. Natural disaster triage, however, is not the same as war triage. Nonetheless, many of the fundamental concepts underlying war triage also apply to disaster scenarios.