Sixteen days after the hurricane, a mobile military hospital (MMH) was deployed to
Humacao, Puerto Rico, a municipality on the eastern coast of the island, to provide medical relief.
Team triage is the addition of a health care provider (typically an MD, NP, or physician assistant) to the triage area to perform a brief medical screening
examination and initiate necessary testing or treatment. The intent is to treat and discharge patients with minor needs more rapidly while simultaneously determining which patients require a more in-depth evaluation and advanced level of care. Team triage safely and efficiently meets the needs of arriving patients, who benefit from nursing assessment and care in conjunction with those of a health care provider.
To run this team triage station, an RN from an inpatient unit was reassigned to work in the ED, and one of the RNs assigned to the ED worked at the fast-track team triage table. An ED physician or physician assistant was used to fill the provider position. The obstetrician–gynecologist assisted as an additional evaluator in fast-track team triage to allow for provider rotation and relief from the relentless workload.
