Medical triage of victims in emergency situations: skills in medical specialists of non-staff mobile medical units of civil defense

Introduction. The most important element of the system of medical and evacuation support for victims in emergency situations (ES) is medical triage. Scientific works indicate significant shortcomings in the possession of medical triage skills in outpatient and polyclinic doctors.Purpose of the study. To evaluate the possibilities of involving surgical doctors from the Moscow Municipal Emergency Stationary Complex (ESC) in work in an unofficial mobile medical unit (MMU) of civil defense in the elimination of medical and sanitary consequences of large-scale emergencies in peacetime and wartime.Materials and methods. Using the timing of medical triage of simulated victims in emergencies by triage teams of ESC surgical doctors, there was detected average time spent on medical triage of one victim of moderate (severe) severity admitted to the MMU. An analysis of the adopted triage decisions regarding victims was conducted in accordance with the data of the simulation coupons. A comparative analysis of the capabilities of the triage teams of ESC doctors and city polyclinics was conducted.Results. The capacity of two ESC teams per hour of work will be 54 cases, for 12 hours — 648 patients. A comparative analysis of the capacity of two ESC teams of doctors for 12 hours of work showed their efficiency to be of 1.8 times higher, compared to the work of three teams of doctors of municipal polyclinics. 10.0% of incorrect sorting decisions were identified, which did not affect the quality of medical sorting.Research limitations. The study materials are limited to the results of scientific research of the Moscow Territorial Scientific and Practical Center for Disaster Medicine, obtained in 2024 during the research tactical and special exercise based on the Municipal Clinical Hospital No. 15 named after O.M. Filatov.Conclusion. The results of the study demonstrated the high potential of the ESC physician teams. Triage decisions on the evacuation of victims to specialized hospitals with the provision of medical care by ambulance teams during its implementation are justified practical decisions. It is advisable to consider the managerial model of the MMU with the inclusion of two triage teams of ESC physicians in the structure.Compliance with ethical standards. This study does not require a conclusion from the Local Ethics Committee.Contribution of the authors: Pervukhin N.N. — collection of primary data, statistical analysis and generalization of the obtained results, writing the first version of the article; Gumenyuk S.A. — formation of relevance, methodological support, editing of the article text; Vechorko V.I. — development of the concept and design of the study, collection of primary data, editing the text of the article. All co-authors — approve the final version of the article and are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the article.Acknowledgment. The study had no sponsorship.Conflict of interest. The authors declare the absence of any conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.Received: January 21, 2025 / Accepted: February 19, 2025 / Published: April 30, 2025

civil defense, emergency situations, mobile medical unit, emergency stationary complex, medical triage