In mass-casualty incidents, what is the principle of triage used by public health responders?

• A. Triage focuses on treating the most severely injured first.
• B. Triage disregards prognosis and treats everyone equally.
• C. Triage orders patients by alphabetical name.
• D. Triage prioritizes those most likely to benefit from care, using a systematic approach.

Answer: (D)

In mass-casualty situations, triage centers on maximizing lives saved by quickly identifying who will benefit most from immediate care and allocating limited resources accordingly, using a standardized, repeatable method. This approach is essential because the number of injured people often exceeds what responders can treat at once, so decisions must be fast, objective, and consistent under stress. Rather than racing to treat the most severely injured first or trying to treat everyone equally, triage aims to direct attention to those with the best chance of survival with prompt intervention, while others may be deprioritized or treated for comfort if survival is unlikely. Protocols like START provide simple criteria to sort patients rapidly into priority levels, enabling responders to proceed efficiently and save as many lives as possible.