Emergency Preparedness & Response
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Emergency Preparedness and Response
Triage of Patients with Cutaneous Burns Only During Mass Casualty Scenario
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In mass burn situations, some casualties may be too gravely injured to warrant full resuscitation and support. The following table may be used in conjunction with clinical assessment and guidance from a Burn Center. In all cases, patients should be provided with appropriate medications for comfort even if other interventions are not warranted based on the prognosis. Table reflects SURVIVABILITY – so ‘very high’ is excellent prognosis.
Definitions
| Survivable | Survivable and good outcome expected without requiring initial admission. |
| Very High | Survival with good outcomes highly expected. |
| High | Survival and good outcomes expected with limited/short term initial admission and resource allocation (LOS less than or equal to 14 days. 1-2 surgical procedures) |
| Medium | Survival and good outcomes with aggressive care and comprehensive resource allocation, including initial admission (greater than/equal to 14 days), resuscitation, and multiple surgeries. |
| Low | Survival and good outcome low even with long-term, aggressive treatment and resource allocation. |
| Very low | Survival and outcome poor even with unlimited resources. |
| Expectant | Survival less than 10% even with unlimited, aggressive treatment. |
| 0-10% | 11-20% | 21-30% | 31-40% | 41-50% | 51-60% | 61-70% | 71-80% | 81-90% | 91-100% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <2 years of age | Very high | Very high | Very high | High | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | Very low |
| 2-5 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | High | High | High | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
| 5-19 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | High | High | High | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
| 20-29 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | High | High | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | Very low |
| 30-39 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | High | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | Very low |
| 40-49 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low | Very low | Very low | Expectant |
| 50-59 years of age | Survivable | Very high | Very high | Medium | Medium | Low | Very low | Very low | Expectant | Expectant |
| 60-69 years of age | Very high | Very high | Medium | Medium | Low | Very low | Very low | Expectant | Expectant | Expectant |
| 70+ years of age | Very high | Medium | Medium | Low | Very low | Expectant | Expectant | Expectant | Expectant | Expectant |
Courtesy of the American Burn Association.