Development of Hospital Triage Training at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital F. Plani1, E Degiannis, P Lingham No disaster training had ever been carried out at the CHBH, the biggest hospital in the world with over 2900 beds and over 5000 staff members. The 2010 Disaster Plan required that all clinical staff undergo the appropriate training. Basic Interprofessional Training for Trauma Disasters 411 staff members attended a half day course during May/June 2010, presented and sponsored by CHBH Trauma Directorate consultants. The aims of the course were to disseminate the trauma disaster plan in interdisciplinary and interprofessional fashion, clarify hospital triage, familiarize staff with Trauma Unit equipment, and practice resuscitations in mass casualty incidents. The course started with presentations on CHBH Disaster Plans and Protocols and Principles of Triage and Standard of Care in Disasters. This was followed by 3 multiple patient scenarios with rotating groups, over a whole hospital floor with: 1) 50 mixed patients outside the hospital; 2) 10 serious patients in the ER; 3) 10 patients deteriorating later in a ward or ICU. Next were individual patient resuscitations, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Survey and “hand-over”, patient resuscitations in a disaster, using the contents from “Disaster Bags” and questionnaires to assess confidence and suitable treatment areas (Red, Yellow, Green, OT) for allocation in a disaster. The course was wrapped up by a familiarization visit to ED and the colour coded areas.

Final questionnaires demonstrated that all participants were a lot more confident in the triage of patients and the initial resuscitation using the implements found in the resuscitation room and the “Disaster Bags”. The course has been adopted as part of staff orientation at all professional levels from 2011 onwards, and is in the process to be extended to secondary level hospitals in Gauteng, RSA.