Ease of Use Among SMART Triage Benefits

As every paramedic knows, the first ten minutes of any large scale, or multi casualty, incident dictates how the rest of the incident will run. In order to get control of those first 10 minutes effectively, having the proper training and the proper equipment on scene is paramount.

The SMART TRI Pack from TSG and Kingfisher Medical is the newest tool in a proven arsenal that has been used around the world for over a decade and on scenes such as the London 7/7 Bombings and the Philadelphia Amtrak derailment last month.

Dave Taylor, flight paramedic and regional trauma coordinator for northeast Wisconsin, used the system on about 50 people earlier this year after his unit responded to a bus crash.

Taylor says the system was simple to figure out, and he was surprised at how quickly he could change patients to different categories.

“I didn’t need to change out bags or rip things off, and it really worked phenomenally well,” Taylor says. “It’s extremely simple to implement and interacts with any triage algorithm on the planet.”

The SMART TRI PACK comes with 25 tags that are resistant to water, body fluids, gas and other chemicals. The tags are highly visible and fold to show only one color at a time. This allows for maximum visibility in a chaotic atmosphere. The RED or PRIORITY 1 patient tags can even be illuminated with red lite sticks so your most critically injured patients literally “glow in the dark” and can be found easily by the transport units assigned to them.

Harry Moore, ALS coordinator with the Chester County Department of Emergency Services, says this is an upgrade over their old system.

With their old system, triage tags had to have the bottom portion torn off, which made changing patient condition a hassle.

“You had to retag them because you tore off and threw away the other categories,” Moore says.

With this system, changing patient condition is as easy as folding over the tag to show a new condition.

“You just do your reassessment and if the patient category has change, you flip the card to another color and you’re done,” Moore says. “It’s user friendly and easy to learn.”

The tags are tear resistant, and have a barcode for easy tracking.

To learn more information about the SMART TRI PACK and all the other SMART Triage Products , visit KingfisherMedical.com.