Optimizing mass casualty: an incident report of centralizing patient transport and its impact on triage efficiency

Abstract

In mass casualty incidents, effective triage, treatment, and transport are critical for efficient management but often deviate from practices and ethical standards. In terms of resource allocation, decentralized transport is the predominant transport method; however, it is not standardized. This report retrospectively analyzed the response to a mass casualty incident at a university emergency center. By centralizing patient transport from the scene, the time to patient transport could be shortened, the burden on the scene related to transport could be reduced, and undertriage at the scene could be avoided. No trauma-related deaths occurred. This case provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of situations in which critical patients may concentrate in emergency centers during future mass-casualty incidents.