Teaching Mass Casualty Triage: Implementing the New MUCC Instructional Guidelines

Mass casualty incidents usually don't obey jurisdictional boundaries, with responses often involving multiple agencies, regions and even states. Several years ago, to help ensure consistency when responding to these incidents, a group of experts created the Model Uniform Core Criteria for Mass Casualty Incident Triage, or MUCC. While not a system of triage itself, MUCC created a standard set of guidelines that all mass casualty triage systems should follow. Upon the recommendations of the National EMS Advisory Council and the Federal Interagency Committee on EMS, instructional guidelines were then developed to help EMS educators teach the basics of MUCC during initial and continuing education for all levels of EMS personnel.

The three-member panel discusses the importance of using evidence-based triage systems during the response to mass casualty incidents, what educators need to know about the model uniform core criteria, and lessons learned during implementation of the new MUCC EMS instructional guidelines.

Presenters:

E. Brooke Lerner, PhD, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
Kandra Strauss-Riggs, MPH, Education Director, National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health
Leaugeay Barnes, MS, EMS Faculty, Kapi'olani Community College
Gam Wijetunge, NRP, NHTSA's Office of EMS