In mass casualty triage, what is the priority criterion for treatment?

• A. Treat the most people fastest, regardless of injury severity.
• B. Prioritize casualties based on the severity of injuries and likelihood of survival (triage by benefit).
• C. Triaging by the order of arrival at the scene.
• D. Prioritize those who can pay for care first.

Answer: (B)

In mass casualty triage, the core idea is to maximize the number of lives saved by directing care where it can do the most good. This means assessing injuries to judge how severely someone is hurt and whether they are likely to survive with timely treatment. The best choice reflects triage by benefit: giving priority to those who have a reasonable chance of survival with intervention and who need urgent care, while those unlikely to benefit from limited resources may wait or receive less aggressive treatment. This approach prevents wasting scarce resources on patients with low chances of recovery and ensures the greatest overall number of survivors.

The other ideas don’t fit this goal. Treating the most people fastest without regard to injury severity can waste resources on patients who won’t benefit, reducing overall lives saved. Triage by arrival order ignores medical need and potential benefit, which undermines the purpose of prioritizing care. Prioritizing based on ability to pay is unethical and irrelevant to medical needs in an emergency.