Which step in incident management is the initial sorting of patients?

Which step in incident management is the initial sorting of patients?

• A. Secondary triage
• B. Primary triage
• C. Tertiary triage
• D. Re-triage

Answer: (B)

Primary triage is the first rapid sorting of casualties at the incident scene. It’s done in seconds to quickly identify who needs immediate life-saving care, guiding which patients receive attention first and which can wait. This initial pass uses a quick assessment to assign priorities (immediate, delayed, minimal, and sometimes expectant) so limited resources can save the most lives. After this initial sorting, secondary triage happens later in a treatment area with a more thorough re-evaluation, while retriage refers to ongoing reassessment as conditions or resources change.

Primary triage is the first rapid sorting of casualties at the incident scene. It’s done in seconds to quickly identify who needs immediate life-saving care, guiding which patients receive attention first and which can wait. This initial pass uses a quick assessment to assign priorities (immediate, delayed, minimal, and sometimes expectant) so limited resources can save the most lives. After this initial sorting, secondary triage happens later in a treatment area with a more thorough re-evaluation, while retriage refers to ongoing reassessment as conditions or resources change.