01
Triage in Indian Emergency Care
PHC, CHC, district hospital and tertiary-centre context · Walk-in and ambulance arrivals · Overcrowding · Duty of care · Under-triage and over-triage
4h
Four-hour moduleFocused live online learning
CNE
4 ISECN CNE HoursAwarded on successful completion
10
Ten learning areasTriage through disaster recovery
Module introduction
Making safe priorities when every minute matters
In Indian emergency departments—from community and district hospitals to medical colleges and tertiary trauma centres—nurses frequently manage heavy walk-in demand, ambulance arrivals, inter-facility referrals and limited resources. Triage must rapidly identify patients needing immediate intervention while ensuring that waiting patients are reassessed and deterioration is escalated. During road-traffic collisions, railway incidents, crowd crushes, floods, cyclones, heatwaves, fires or industrial emergencies, patient numbers may exceed the available staff, space and equipment. This module applies triage and disaster-management principles to realistic Indian settings, including 108/102 ambulance coordination, referral pathways, hospital disaster-plan activation, HIRS/IRS roles, mass-casualty sorting, surge areas, patient tracking and communication with local emergency services.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:
- Explain the purpose and ethical principles of triage within Indian emergency-care settings.
- Perform a rapid ABCDE-based assessment at walk-in triage, ambulance handover and referral reception.
- Identify time-critical presentations requiring immediate stabilisation and medical escalation.
- Apply the approved hospital triage scale using clinical discriminators, vital signs and risk indicators.
- Document the triage decision, initiate safety-netting and reassess patients according to local policy.
- Adapt triage for children, older adults, pregnancy, poisoning, mental-health presentations and infectious illness.
- Describe India’s disaster-management structure, including NDMA, SDMA, DDMA and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- Explain hospital disaster-plan activation and nursing roles within HIRS and the Incident Response System.
- Apply colour-coded mass-casualty triage and re-triage to Indian incident scenarios.
- Coordinate patient reception and referral with 108/102 ambulance services and local response agencies.
- Support surge capacity, treatment zoning, decontamination, patient tracking and safe evacuation.
- Demonstrate safe decisions during simulations involving road crashes, mass gatherings, floods and industrial incidents.
Learning content
Ten structured learning areas
The programme uses Indian emergency-department, pre-hospital and disaster scenarios throughout.
02
Rapid Assessment at First Contact
First impression · ABCDE threats · Vital signs · Pain · High-risk features · Immediate stabilisation · Medical escalation
03
Triage Scales for Indian Hospitals
Three-level and five-level approaches · Colour coding · WHO IITT · Clinical discriminators · Applying the approved institutional policy
04
Patient Flow, Referral and Safety
108/102 handover · Stabilise before referral · Inter-facility transfer · Documentation · Waiting-area reassessment · Escalation and safety-netting
05
Common Indian Triage Presentations
Trauma · Chest pain and stroke · Poisoning and snakebite · Heat illness · Obstetric emergencies · Children · Older adults · Infectious illness
06
India’s Disaster Framework
Disaster Management Act, 2005 · NDMA, SDMA and DDMA · Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery · Nursing responsibilities
07
Hospital Disaster Plan and HIRS
Hazard-vulnerability assessment · Activation triggers · Command centre · HIRS/IRS roles · Call-back plan · Stock, blood and oxygen preparedness · Drills
08
Indian Mass-Casualty Scenarios
Highway and rail incidents · Crowd crush and mass gatherings · Building collapse · Primary and secondary triage · Colour tags · Re-triage
09
Hazard-Specific Hospital Response
Floods and cyclones · Heatwaves · Fire and burns · Chemical or industrial release · Decontamination · Surge zones · Patient tracking and evacuation
10
Indian Scenario Simulation
Festival crowd surge · Highway pile-up · Chemical leak · Flood-related hospital surge · Communication with police, fire, ambulance and district authorities
Recommended learning
Ten online learning resources
Indian government resources form the core reading, supported by one adaptable WHO triage tool.
- Emergency Care Module for Staff Nurses ↗Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India · Assessment, triage and emergency nursing
- NDMA Disaster-Management Guidelines ↗Government of India · Includes Medical Preparedness and Mass Casualty Management guidance
- Hospital Safety Training and Technical Documents ↗NDMA · Hospital disaster-management and safety modules
- Incident Response System in India ↗NDMA · Standardised disaster response roles, sections and documentation
- Disaster-Management Plan Templates ↗NDMA · Government of India planning templates
- 108/102 Emergency Response and Patient Transport Services ↗National Health Mission · Indian ambulance and patient-transport system
- Preparedness and Public-Health Response for Chemical Emergencies ↗NCDC and MoHFW · Indian preparedness, surveillance and response module
- In-Hospital Medical Management of Chemical Emergencies ↗NCDC and MoHFW · Triage, decontamination, PPE and emergency-department care
- NIDM Training Designs and Modules ↗National Institute of Disaster Management · Indian disaster-preparedness learning materials
- Interagency Integrated Triage Tool ↗WHO, ICRC and MSF · Adaptable routine and mass-casualty triage protocols
Clinical-use note: Indian states, hospitals and ambulance systems may use different triage categories, alert codes and escalation pathways. Always follow the approved institutional triage policy, Hospital Disaster Management Plan and relevant State or District Disaster Management Authority instructions.
Module 2 · Live online session
Triage and Disaster Management Course
DateSaturday, 26 September 2026
Time4:00 PM–8:00 PM IST