Which statement best describes the goal of triage in an incident?

Which statement best describes the goal of triage in an incident?

• A. To categorize patients to identify those needing immediate life-saving care.
• B. To transport patients based on proximity to the hospital.
• C. To prioritize transport and on-scene care by severity to maximize survivability.
• D. To decontaminate the patient before any transport.

Answer: (C)

Triage aims to save as many lives as possible when resources are limited by sorting patients quickly according to how urgently they need treatment and how likely they are to benefit from it. The central idea is to allocate on-scene care and transport to those with the greatest chance of survival with timely intervention, focusing first on the most severely injured who can still be saved. This ensures limited resources—time, personnel, and transport—are used where they will have the biggest impact on outcomes. That’s why prioritizing transport and on-scene care by severity to maximize survivability is the best description. It captures both the on-site decision-making and the subsequent transport prioritization driven by medical urgency and potential benefit. The other options miss this core focus. Transporting patients by proximity ignores medical need, and decontamination, while important in certain incidents, is a separate safety step rather than the overarching goal of triage. Similarly, simply categorizing who needs life-saving care is part of triage but doesn’t fully describe the decision-making that aims to maximize survivability through prioritized actions.

Triage aims to save as many lives as possible when resources are limited by sorting patients quickly according to how urgently they need treatment and how likely they are to benefit from it. The central idea is to allocate on-scene care and transport to those with the greatest chance of survival with timely intervention, focusing first on the most severely injured who can still be saved. This ensures limited resources—time, personnel, and transport—are used where they will have the biggest impact on outcomes.

That’s why prioritizing transport and on-scene care by severity to maximize survivability is the best description. It captures both the on-site decision-making and the subsequent transport prioritization driven by medical urgency and potential benefit.

The other options miss this core focus. Transporting patients by proximity ignores medical need, and decontamination, while important in certain incidents, is a separate safety step rather than the overarching goal of triage. Similarly, simply categorizing who needs life-saving care is part of triage but doesn’t fully describe the decision-making that aims to maximize survivability through prioritized actions.