The National Triage Scale

Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, Napoleon's Surgeon in Chief is widely considered responsible for the introduction of concepts of triage. His Ambulance Volante began the process of removing large numbers of potentially salvageable patients from the battlefield and presenting them to surgical services. Thus there arrived at medical care large numbers of potentially salvageable patients who required sorting on principles of equity and efficiency “else much confusion would have ensued, had I not observed the order of dressing and arrangement observed by me in all battles.” Emergency departments often experience similar patterns of patients to the battlefield with large numbers of undifferentiated patients presenting often in large numbers and requiring sorting on principles of equity and efficiency...