Introduction: Existing mass casualty triage systems do not consider the possibility of chemical, biological, or radiologic/nuclear (CBRN) contamination of the injured patients. A system that can triage injured patients who are or may be contaminated by CBRN material, developed through expert opinion, was pilot-tested at an airport disaster drill. The study objective was to determine the system's speed and accuracy.
Methods: For a drill involving a plane crash with release of organophosphate material from the cargo hold, 56 patient scenarios were generated, with some involving signs and symptoms of organophosphate toxicity in addition to physical trauma. Prior to the drill, the investigators examined each scenario to determine the "correct" triage categorization, assuming proper application of the proposed system, and trained the paramedics who were expected to serve as triage officers at the drill. During the drill, the medics used the CBRN triage system to triage the 56 patients, with two observers timing and recording the events of the triage process. The IRB deemed the study exempt from full review.
Results: The two triage officers applied the CBRN system correctly to 49 of the 56 patients (87.5% accuracy). One patient intended to be T2 (yellow) was triaged as T1 (red), for an over-triage rate of 1.8%. Five patients intended to be T1 were triaged as T2, and one patient intended to be T2 was triaged as T3 (green), for an under-triage rate of 10.7%. All six under-triage cases were due to failure to recognize or account for signs of organophosphate toxidrome in applying the triage system. For the 27 patients for whom times were recorded, triage was accomplished in a mean of 19 seconds (range 4-37, median 17).
Conclusions: The chemical algorithm of the proposed CBRN-capable mass casualty triage system can be applied rapidly by trained paramedics, but a significant under-triage rate (10.7%) was seen in this pilot test. Further refinement and testing are needed, and effect on outcome must be studied.