START triage: does it work?

BACKGROUND

A mass casualty incident (MCI) demands rapid and efficient triage of victims. The Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) protocol has been proposed to identify salvageable victims from those with imminent mortality. This study evaluates the efficacy of START triage to predict likelihood of mortality of an MCI trauma victim.

METHODS

Trauma patients were randomly selected using the trauma database at a local Level II trauma center. Survival was defined as a discharge from the hospital with the primary endpoint being death. For respiratory rate <30, pulse <100, and Glasgow Coma Scale score >14, one point was given to the victim for each category. Persons who did not meet these criteria were given a score of zero. The scores were then tabulated and analyzed with respect to the primary endpoint.

RESULTS

Of the 355 persons analyzed, 341 (96%) survived and 14 (3.9%) were categorized as deceased. For patients with a tabulated score </=1, the positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were 0.4 and 0.98, respectively. For patients with a tabulated score of >/=2, the PPV and NPV were 0.08 and 0.99, respectively.

DISCUSSION

Of the total victims, 75.77% with a respiratory rate <30, palpable radial pulse, and intact mental status survived. The deceased victims with tabulated scores of 1, 2, and 3 had mortalities of 50%, 28%, and 21%, respectively. The trend toward lower tabulated scores in the deceased victims suggests efficacy with START triage.