Comparing the Accuracy of Mass Casualty Triage Systems in a Pediatric Population

The authors compared the accuracy of 4 different mass casualty triage systems (SALT, JumpSTART, Triage Sieve, and CareFlight) when used for 115 children presenting to a pediatric specialty hospital/Level 1 trauma center. All were found to be 56%-59% accurate, and all had an under-triage percentage ranging from 33%-39%, which the authors called “unacceptable.” For each triage system, the most common error was designating a patient as “minimal” when they should have been triaged as “delayed.”