Guidelines for mass casualty triage have been established

The terrorist events on 22 July 2011 highlighted the necessity for a well-functioning emergency preparedness system. Triage is a systematic categorisation of the patients’ condition undertaken at the scene of injury on the basis of specific criteria. The goal is to ensure that each patient is sent to the right place at the right time. National guidelines for this recognised principle for disaster response have now been established.

Unnecessary use of health resources on patients with minor injuries is associated with heightened mortality in mass-casualty situations (1). Careful mass-casualty triage thus enables rescue workers to provide as much help as possible to the greatest possible number of victims. Rescue work in major disasters is a inter-disciplinary effort, and it is essential for all rescue workers to understand what priority to give to each patient. To date, Norwegian rescue workers have had no joint guidelines for mass casualty triage, and the need for a national standardisation has been pointed out (2, 3).

On average, Norway is struck by three major incidents each year (4). During the terrorist attack on 22 July 2011, experienced doctors performed high-quality mass casualty triage in the Government quarter and at Utøya island, despite the absence of national guidelines (5, 6). The next time a disaster requires extraordinary rescue efforts, the availability of resources and access to the disaster zone may require rescue workers from all response agencies to participate in the triage activity. Analyses of the response to the terrorist attack pointed out the need for guidelines for mass casualty triage across the emergency response agencies, to increase the ability for early identification of those patients who are in most need of resources first (5, 7).