Open Forum

Good morning!

We are currently updating our emergency preparedness plans for our Urgent Cares.  We staff our Urgent Cares with MAs (no RNs in the staffing).  There is a request to have the MAs work outside of their scope - triage/assess patients - during a Mass Casualty.  We connected with Donald Balasa, JD, MBA (CEO and Legal Counsel, AAMA) around this, and he is not aware of any state that has or would support a MA working outside of scope - even in a state of emergency.  Has anyone completed research around this, feel differently about this or written a plan around the MA role during a mass casualty when there are no nurses on site - just a provider and MAs?  Thank you!

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Karol Edwards MHA, RN, NE-BC
CNO, Ambulatory Services
MedStar Health
Columbia, MD
410-746-2430
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We trained our MRTs (and others) to do START and JUMPSTART for mass casualty triage. That type of triage would be well within the MA scope because it only requires one to check respirations, pulse, and gross mental status. "Lower" skill personnel actually did it better than our clinicians because the clinicians overthink.

Having MAs do initial triage - sorting to red, yellow, green, black or equivalent based on what system you use - frees up clinical people to focus on the treatment phase of mass casualty incidents.

Once triage and transport phases are done, the MAs could be assign to treatment teams, working within their scope to support clinicians.

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Benjamin Kanten MSN MBA RN-BC NE-BC
Bastrop TX
(202) 321-8567
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