THE FIRST TRIAGE CARRIED OUT IN COSTA RICA IN A MAJOR DISASTER: THE PARTICIPATION OF DR. RICARDO MORENO CAÑAS IN THE TRAGIC ACCIDENT OF THE VIRILLA RIVER, MARCH 1926; A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS.

Abstract

Triage comes from the French word Trier, which means to order.  Thus, since the eighteenth century in France, triage consisted of ordering or classifying the war wounded according to their clinical condition. Currently, it is a process where patients are categorized according to the type, level of urgency and clinical condition with which they consult the Emergency Department. The triage classification consists of a quality control indicator, which organizes the time of arrival, quickly evaluates the nature and severity of the patient's condition, prioritizes care according to needs, arranges the best place and time of care, controls the flow of people and improves the quality of care by making it more personalized, timely and safe. This article describes the first experience of the application of triage in Costa Rica during a major disaster, as well as the relevance in the history of Costa Rican medicine in this historic event, and the participation of a distinguished doctor, trained on the battlefields of World War I, who upon learning of the fateful disaster in March 1926, immediately rushed to the scene along with two other doctors and ranked the dozens of injured and dead in the serious railway accident.