ePCR Mass Casualty Triage and JESIP-Aligned Scene Command

Overview#

In a mass casualty event, the first problem is not documentation depth; it is maintaining control of the scene while casualty numbers, transport capacity, and triage status are all changing at once. Paper triage tags and radio updates can work at small scale, but they break down quickly when commanders need a live picture of red, yellow, green, and black patients across a moving incident.

The Mass Casualty Triage and Scene Command module gives the platform a dedicated MCI workflow inside the broader clinical environment. It supports activation of a mass casualty incident, electronic triage tagging, casualty tallies, commander reporting, and later linkage from a triage tag into a full patient care record when a crew has capacity to complete the formal encounter.

It also aligns that clinical workflow with the platform's broader major-incident command capabilities. That means a service can carry M/ETHANE reporting, gold-silver-bronze style command structure, shared command checklists, and common operating picture coordination alongside the casualty workflow rather than treating triage as a disconnected clinical side process.

Last Reviewed: 2026-04-17 Last Updated: 2026-04-17

Key Features#

• MCI Activation Workflow: Let services formally declare a major incident level, assign command responsibility, and attach resource requests in one place.

• Electronic Triage Tags: Replace purely manual tag tracking with a digital triage register that captures colour category, triage method, chief complaint, and patient location.

• Scene Commander Reporting: Give the incident commander a live summary of casualty numbers, colour tallies, resource needs, and transport picture for a current sitrep.

• JESIP-Aligned Command Structure: Allow triage activity to align with shared command roles, checklist-driven coordination, and major-incident command levels used across partner agencies.

• M/ETHANE Situation Reporting: Support a structured major-incident briefing and broadcast pattern so commanders can keep dispatch, control rooms, and partner agencies working from the same summary.

• Support for Public Triage Methodologies: Allow services to work with the triage framework they use operationally rather than forcing a single hard-coded model.

• Link from Triage to Full Encounter: Move from rapid triage into a complete ePCR record when a patient progresses from scene sort to formal clinical care.

• Re-Triage and Dynamic Scene Tracking: Reflect that casualty category can change as the incident stabilises, treatment begins, or transport options improve.

• Transport and Capacity Awareness: Track the relationship between casualty category, available vehicles, and receiving hospital plans.

• Shared Command Picture: Keep casualty tracking close to the wider command and common-operating-picture workflow used during a major incident.

Use Cases#

• Major Road Traffic Collision: Multiple crews and hospitals need a live view of casualty colour categories and transport demand as the scene evolves.

• Stadium or Event Incident: A commander uses electronic tags and live tallies to brief control rooms and partner agencies without waiting for manual headcounts.

• Industrial Explosion or Fire: Casualties are re-triaged as access improves, specialist resources arrive, and the transport plan changes.

• Multi-Agency Major Incident Command: Ambulance, fire, and police commanders work from the same M/ETHANE summary and casualty picture while command roles and checklists continue in parallel.

• Cruise Port or Maritime Casualty Event: A distributed casualty scene uses digital tagging to keep shore, ambulance, and receiving hospital teams aligned on priority.

• Transition from Triage to Clinical Record: A red-tag patient is later linked to a full encounter so the mass casualty workflow and the definitive care record stay connected.

Integration#

• PSAP and Incident Command Workflows: MCI activation and commander reporting can align with the broader operational picture used by dispatch and command teams.

• Unified Command and Common Operating Picture: MCI scene command can sit alongside major-incident protocol runs, command roles, and shared operational views.

• Electronic Patient Care Report Clinical Workspace: Once the scene stabilises, triaged patients can be linked into full encounter documentation.

• Mobile Responder and Field Triage Surfaces: Field users can issue and update tags from the mobile workflow instead of depending on later re-entry.

• Hospital Coordination: Scene command can align casualty counts and transport priorities with downstream hospital capacity planning.

• Resource Request and Mutual Aid Workflows: Casualty tallies can inform wider major-incident resource and partner-agency coordination.

Open Standards#

• START: supports the widely used public triage methodology for rapid adult casualty sorting.

• JumpSTART: supports the paediatric adaptation used by services that triage children differently in major incidents.

• SALT: supports services working to the public sort-assess-lifesaving interventions-treatment and transport triage method.

• SIEVE: supports services and regions that use the SIEVE model for major incident triage.

• JESIP: scene command can align to the public multi-agency interoperability principles used for major-incident working.

• ICS: command roles and escalation can align to the shared incident-command structure used in multi-agency operations.

• M/ETHANE: scene commander reporting can align to the common major-incident sitrep structure used for briefing and broadcast.

• WGS 84 / EPSG:4326: casualty and tag positions can be represented using the standard latitude and longitude reference model used across the rest of the platform.

• JSON over HTTPS: digital tag and commander updates move through the same interoperable web payload model used by adjacent operational services.