Triage Principles and Disaster Response Practice Questions
20 free Triage Principles and Disaster Response practice questions for the NCLEX Exam. Tap an option to answer — you get instant feedback, the correct answer, and a detailed explanation for every question.
What is the primary ethical principle guiding triage in a mass casualty incident?
- A Treat the first casualty first
- B Provide definitive care to each patient regardless of resources
- C Achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of patients
- D Always prioritize children regardless of condition
Correct answer: Achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of patients
Disaster triage aims to maximize survival across the group of casualties by allocating limited resources optimally rather than treating each individual as in normal care.
What does the acronym START stand for in adult mass casualty triage?
- A Shoot-Treat-Assess-Rescue-Transport
- B Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment
- C Sort-Transport-Assess-Rescue-Tag
- D Standard Triage And Resource Tracking
Correct answer: Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment
START is a commonly used algorithm in MCIs for initial rapid sorting of casualties: Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment.
Which statement about the 'walking wounded' in START triage is correct?
- A They are tagged red and treated first
- B They are able to walk and thus are often tagged green (minor)
- C They must stay at the scene until all others are evacuated
- D They are always without any injuries
Correct answer: They are able to walk and thus are often tagged green (minor)
In START the first step is to ask those who can walk to move; those ambulatory casualties are sorted as green/minor ('walking wounded').
One of the key principles of triage in disasters is that it should be:
- A Slow, thorough, and individually exhaustive
- B Completely identical to routine emergency-department triage
- C Quick and accurate, prioritizing under resource constraints
- D Concentrated on fully treating one patient at a time
Correct answer: Quick and accurate, prioritizing under resource constraints
Disaster triage emphasizes speed and accuracy in classification under limited resources: classification and prioritization of injured, speed and accuracy are key principles.
In a hospital surge capacity situation during a disaster, what does 'reverse triage' mean?
- A Discharging or relocating stable inpatients to free resources
- B Admitting every arrival regardless of clinical acuity
- C Treating only new arrivals while ignoring current patients
- D Transferring all current patients out of the facility
Correct answer: Discharging or relocating stable inpatients to free resources
Reverse triage involves identifying and relocating or discharging stable patients to create capacity for incoming critical casualties during a surge.
What is most important when performing primary triage at the scene of an MCI?
- A Fully treating each patient before moving to the next
- B Rapidly assessing and categorizing patients for transport or care
- C Awaiting complete diagnostic testing before any sorting
- D Recording a full medical history before tagging each patient
Correct answer: Rapidly assessing and categorizing patients for transport or care
Primary triage at the scene focuses on rapid assessment and sorting to determine who needs immediate transport or care rather than full treatment on site.
During a chemical mass-casualty incident, triage modifications may include which additional factor?
- A Restricting assessment to walking ability alone
- B Including exposure history, decontamination status, and toxin effects
- C Disregarding chemical exposure whenever the patient is alert
- D Automatically assigning every casualty to the red category
Correct answer: Including exposure history, decontamination status, and toxin effects
In chemical/biological incidents, triage must consider exposure history, decontamination status and delayed onset of effects, beyond classic trauma criteria.
According to the MUCC (Model Uniform Core Criteria), what should mass casualty triage systems do?
- A Use only colour tags and prohibit any numeric scoring
- B Be consistent across jurisdictions with standardized core criteria
- C Mandate advanced imaging and lab diagnostics at the scene
- D Always prioritize children first regardless of injury severity
Correct answer: Be consistent across jurisdictions with standardized core criteria
The MUCC provides a set of core criteria to standardize mass casualty triage across systems to improve consistency and interoperability.
In disaster triage, the term 'expectant' refers to patients who:
- A Require immediate transport ahead of all other casualties
- B Are ambulatory with only minor, non-urgent injuries
- C Are so severely injured that survival is unlikely given resources
- D Need only delayed evaluation once the scene is cleared
Correct answer: Are so severely injured that survival is unlikely given resources
'Expectant' category (often tagged black) refers to those whose injuries are so severe that survival is unlikely under current resource constraints.
Which of the following is not part of hospital disaster response surge planning?
- A Cancel elective procedures
- B Expand physical space for care (e.g., alternate care sites)
- C Delay activation of incident command
- D Cross-train staff and manage supplies
Correct answer: Delay activation of incident command
Delaying activation of incident command would hinder response; surge planning includes early activation of incident command, canceling elective procedures, expanding space and managing staff/supplies.
In the START adult triage algorithm, which mnemonic helps recall key criteria for triage?
- A ABC (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) primary survey
- B RPM-30-2-Can-Do (Respirations, Perfusion, Mental status)
- C FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) stroke screen
- D SAMPLE (Symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Past history)
Correct answer: RPM-30-2-Can-Do (Respirations, Perfusion, Mental status)
In START triage, RPM-30-2-CanDo helps categorize patients quickly: respirations over 30/min, cap refill >2 seconds, inability to follow commands.
A patient arrives at the hospital from a disaster with no prior triage identified. What should the nurse do in hospital triage?
- A Admit the patient directly to the ICU without assessment
- B Conduct rapid secondary triage to prioritize care and resources
- C Discharge the patient home because no scene tag exists
- D Treat the patient only after full diagnostic workup is complete
Correct answer: Conduct rapid secondary triage to prioritize care and resources
When casualties arrive without scene triage, the hospital must perform rapid secondary triage to prioritize treatment and resource allocation.
Which colour tag in a typical MCI colour-tag triage system indicates 'immediate' priority for life-saving interventions?
- A Green
- B Yellow
- C Red
- D Black
Correct answer: Red
Red tag denotes immediate priority – victims who require intervention within minutes to survive.
When communicating during a disaster response, what is one of the essential systems required?
- A Rely on verbal communication within a single department only
- B Unified incident command with clear inter-agency communication
- C Depend solely on informal, ad hoc messaging between responders
- D Defer all documentation until after the event has ended
Correct answer: Unified incident command with clear inter-agency communication
Disaster response requires coordinated communication, using an incident command system (ICS) to manage inter-agency coordination, resources, and logistics.
In a triage situation with limited ventilators during a pandemic, which concept is relevant?
- A First-come, first-served allocation in all circumstances
- B Allocation guided by likelihood of survival and best resource use
- C Reserving ventilators exclusively for paediatric patients
- D Assigning ventilators randomly by lottery among all patients
Correct answer: Allocation guided by likelihood of survival and best resource use
In crisis standards of care, allocation of scarce resources such as ventilators must consider survival likelihood and efficient resource use rather than first-come or random assignment.
Which stage of triage refers to in-hospital triage that evaluates patients after arrival at the hospital for prioritization for ICU, OR, or other disposition?
- A Primary triage
- B Secondary triage
- C Tertiary triage
- D Quaternary triage
Correct answer: Tertiary triage
Triage systems often include three phases: primary at scene, secondary during transport or arrival, and tertiary (in hospital) for disposition decisions.
A disaster plan that integrates local, regional, and national resources and clearly defined roles is essential. Which document emphasizes this?
- A The hospital's daily cafeteria menu and meal schedule
- B ACS Statement on Disaster and Mass Casualty Management
- C The unit's daily nurse and physician staffing schedule
- D The quarterly patient satisfaction and feedback survey
Correct answer: ACS Statement on Disaster and Mass Casualty Management
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Statement on Disaster and Mass Casualty Management outlines triage principles, integration of resources, and system coordination.
In mass casualty triage, why does speed matter?
- A Triage should take as long as needed to gather a full history
- B Time taken for triage is critical; faster assessment speeds care
- C Triage should begin only after 30 minutes have passed on scene
- D Timing of triage is irrelevant whenever resources are abundant
Correct answer: Time taken for triage is critical; faster assessment speeds care
One of the core principles of disaster triage is that classification and prioritization must be done quickly to aid survival; prolonged triage slows care.
During triage at a chemical incident, an injured person is breathing but has respiratory distress and secretions after exposure. According to chemical casualty triage guidelines, how should this patient be categorized?
- A Green (walking wounded)
- B Yellow (delayed)
- C Red (immediate)
- D Black (expectant)
Correct answer: Red (immediate)
In chemical exposures, victims with respiratory distress, secretions, or assisted breathing needed are categorized as immediate priority.
A hospital's surge capacity plan that includes 'Staff, Stuff, Space and System' refers to:
- A Only the staffing dimension of the surge plan
- B All four components needed for an effective surge response
- C Only the space and supplies dimensions combined
- D A plan that deliberately ignores system protocols
Correct answer: All four components needed for an effective surge response
Surge capacity is often described by the '4 S's': Staff (human resources), Stuff (supplies/equipment), Space (physical area), and System/Structure (protocols and management) for disaster response.