Practitioner-Centered, Long-Term Testing of an ICT-based Triage System for Emergency Management

Triage in emergency response refers to determining the priority of victims based on their need for treatment and medical intervention. Today, triage is performed by the use of paper-based triage tags. Communication about patients' status is mainly carried out over radio or through handwritten notes. This practice makes it challenging for emergency personnel to keep an overview of the number, location, and medical status of victims, and to distribute information between personnel. Although technological solutions to ease the triage process exist, the methods used to test these solutions are somewhat limited. This paper reports our plans and preparations for a practitioner-centered, long-term testing of an ICT-based triage system. The system uses electronic devices to tag patients and communicate their status to relevant incident operators, providing a common operational picture for both onand off-site personnel. The technologies (eTriage and Master) that are to be used during the testing are presented.