Triage by the Protocol
Real triage isn't eyeballing a color. It's walking a protocol to a color you can defend. Every patient now comes with a START assessment, and the Triage room shows you the protocol, one question at a time.
Picking a triage color used to be a judgment call with nothing behind it. You saw a full patient card, chose a color, and nothing checked that choice against the patient. Real mass casualty triage doesn’t work that way. Responders follow a fixed protocol, and the color is where the protocol lands.
Every patient now comes with a START assessment. When a patient is generated, the AI walks the START questions for them — can they walk, are they breathing, respiratory rate, perfusion, mental status — answers each one, and lands on a color.
The Triage room gets its own patient card. No vitals wall, no tabs. Just what a responder at the door would have:
- What happened at the scene
- Who the patient is — name, age, gender
- Ambulance notes — what the crew saw and did
- The START questions, with the first one already answered. Reveal the rest one at a time.
You pick the color, not the answers. The protocol answers are facts about the patient. Your job is the call. Pick a color as soon as you’re confident — one severe sign is often enough — and confirm. The card then shows every answer with ✓ or ✗, so you see right away whether your call matches the protocol.
Shock Room and Care Unit keep the full patient card, same as before.
New to START? Here’s how START, JumpSTART, and SALT sort casualties.