The students pictured on the cover are participating in an Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS) course that was held in July 2008 at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA. The ADLS course teaches students how to conduct mass casualty triage in the event of a disaster, regardless of the cause. (For more information on ADLS courses, visit the National Disaster Life Support Foundation at http://www.ndlsf.org.)

The triage model used during this drill is SALT (sort–assess–lifesaving interventions–treatment and/or transport) triage. SALT was developed as a proposed national guideline for mass casualty triage. It uses a 2-step triage process: global sorting through voice commands followed by individual assessment. Patients are categorized into 1 of 5 triage designations: immediate, delayed, minimal, expectant, and dead.

Although a drill can never truly illustrate the realities of a disaster response, it is one of the best tools we have to train providers to respond to a mass casualty incident. Research has shown that this experience improves provider confidence.Reference Lerner, Schwartz, Coule and Pirrallo1 The ability to participate in a mass casualty triage drill is important for all potential responders and is an opportunity that most communities make a significant investment to provide at regular intervals. Likely the incorporation of real-life distractions such as secondary devices, noise, poor lighting, and interruptions from the media are keys to making these activities as lifelike as possible.

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