Triage and Diagnostics

A Course for Jedi Healers

Myra VanIsle

Welcome to Diagnostics and Triage! I'm Master Myra VanIsle, Lore Keeper Emeritus, Senior Healer, and your instructor for this course. In this course, you will learn diagnostic and triage methods basics.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics is an essential part of providing proper care. For us Jedi, diagnostics is all about prioritizing treatment for those who need it the most while keeping consideration of resources and the overall situation in mind. When conducting diagnostics, there are four primary approaches: Observation - Observing the patient and their environment, using all five senses to form a holistic view of their current state. Diagnostic questions - Ask the patient a series of questions to determine the extent of their condition. Scanners - Medical beds are fitted with full-body scanners. Further, our hand scanners can be used to assess a patient's condition. Force Healing - Guiding the Force to assess the patient's physical and mental state. By combining these diagnostics approaches, Jedi can provide the best care possible to their patients.

Scanners

As medical professionals, it is crucial to assess a patient's vital signs and injuries. One way to do this quickly and accurately is to use a medical bed and hand scanner. Using a hand scanner, you will point the device at the patient and wait for the energy beams to complete their scan. The readings will appear on a screen; for some, audio output is also available for the vitals and injury. You can also pair the device with an earpiece for privacy. The right tools can make all the difference when evaluating a patient's vitals and injuries. With a medical bed and hand scanner, you can quickly and accurately assess a patient's condition.

Vitals

It is essential to be aware of the main vitals you are concerned with when assessing a patient: pulse, temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation.

Triage

In medical triage, a system of colours and codes is used to determine the severity of a patient’s injury. It’s essential to understand the colour and code system used in medical triage, as it can help you quickly assess the severity of an injury and provide the appropriate medical care.

Minor injuries/Routine (Green)

Minor injuries, such as small cuts or bruises, are categorized as green. This means the injury is relatively low risk and can be treated with basic first aid. For example, a student who gets a minor injury during practice would be categorized as green.

Minor Trauma/Priority (Yellow)

Yellow is used to describe priority patients who are stable and not at risk of death. These patients may have deeper cuts, burns that cover less than 10 percent of the body, minor blaster trauma, and even some lightsaber wounds or broken bones.

Major Trauma/Urgent (Red)

Red patients are unstable and at risk of losing their life, limb, several limbs, vision, any sense or more severe burns. These are our highest-priority patients, and we must be able to treat them with the utmost care. It is important to remember that these patients are often non-ambulatory, unable to walk, unconscious, and require immediate attention.

Critical/Risk (Black)

Code Black patients, also known as risk patients, are already dead or near dead and cannot be treated, while others are left untreated. In such a case, medical professionals should cover the body or sedate the patient to keep them comfortable until they pass away. If no other high-priority patients are present, attempting to treat the risk patient is possible. Be aware that bedside manner is especially important when dealing with Code Black patients. Medical professionals should refer to risk patients as Vital Signs Absent (VSA) or Code Black to prevent aggravating an already tense environment. It is also important to remember to keep Code Black patients away from other patients for morale.

Triage Card

In a crisis, all health team members and emergency responders must be on the same page, and the process must be simple and easy to follow. One way to ensure an effective triage process is using a Triage Card. Triage Cards are four-by-eight-inch laminated cardboard cards with coloured tabs on the bottom. They provide a space to complete a rapid assessment, basic vitals, if medication was given, and patient identifiers. The card must be signed by the healer issuing the card and evaluation, and then the appropriate triage code-coloured tabs should be ripped off, leaving only the assigned one remaining. We rip off the tabs to prevent a patient or someone else from manipulating their code for preferential treatment. Having a Triage Card can make the triage process more efficient and effective. It's also scalable, meaning it can be used for any number of patients, from two to hundreds.

Meeting The Patient

When meeting with a patient, following a specific order in acquiring information is essential. As a Healer, it is necessary to understand this order to assess the patient quickly and accurately. When meeting with a patient, the first step is to introduce yourself, ask what the visit is for or the emergency is, and determine patient information such as name and age. Next, you should conduct a rapid assessment to determine the triage code based on injury or illness and gather patient history. For patient history, you want to know the primary complaint, method of injury, area of most pain and severity, and assess for head injury by asking, ‘what is your name, where are you, why are you here, and what year is it.’ It is also vital to determine allergies and the last time the patient had water and food. When gathering this information, move from the most important to the least important. This ensures that you can collect all the relevant information without being pulled away, and if you are forced to leave for an emergency, those critical information has been collected. When presenting a patient to a Senior Healer, you should give the patient information in the same order it was collected. This will ensure that the Healer or Senior Healer can quickly assess the patient and take the necessary steps.

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