Korea Institute Radiological Medical Sciences operates an emergency medical response system in case of a radiological accident or disaster. A radiation accident or disaster can affect large-scale patients and destroy medical infrastructure. However, there is currently a lack of specialized education for treating large-scale patients or high-dose exposure patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of radiological mass casualty triage education programs and present a new training method to improve the ability of 119 emergency medical teams in the event of a radiological accident or disaster.

The results of mass casualty triage for radiological events were analyzed using the audience response system and questionnaire for paramedics who participated in the radiation accident response training program. For 25 paramedics, a pre-post evaluation was conducted on two items: understanding the mass triage and understanding the radiological mass triage. The data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 23.0 program.

Thirty simulated patient scenarios were developed with the addition of clinical symptoms of radiation exposure based on the four trauma classifications: immediate, urgent, delayed, and death. The triage results of 30 cases conducted by 119 emergency medical teams were evaluated, and the trainees were asked to respond to the level of improvement in their knowledge of triage through pre- and post-training questionnaires. As a result of the pre- and post-education questionnaire, the degree of understanding of the mass triage was 3.8 before education and 4.4 after education, showing a significant difference (p=.003/MAX=5). The pre- and post-education questionnaire results of radiological mass triage showed a difference between 2.3 before education and 4.1 after education (p=.000/MAX=5).

For effective radiation medical response, 119 emergency medical teams are required to have a repetitive mass triage education program for radiological events. It is especially important to provide a radiological triage system for field application.