first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

and

triage In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...

, the walking wounded are

injured Major trauma is any injury that has the potential to cause prolonged disability or death. There are many causes of major trauma, blunt and penetrating, including falls, motor vehicle collisions, stabbing wounds, and gunshot wounds. Dependi ...

persons who are of a relatively low priority. These

patients A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

are conscious and breathing and will often have only relatively minor injuries; thus they are capable of walking. Depending on the resources available, and the abilities of the injured persons, walking wounded may sometimes be called upon to assist treatment of more seriously injured patients or assist with other tasks. In most

mass casualty A mass casualty incident (often shortened to MCI) describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a ...

situations, the walking wounded are the largest category of casualty.

Classification

According to Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) documentation, walking wounded are determined by requesting those on the scene who may self-evacuate, to do so immediately to a designated refuge. Any casualties able to respond to this command and move themselves to the designated position are considered walking wounded. According to the Revised Trauma Score (RTS) system of triaging, walking wounded can be considered to be those scoring a 12.

References

{{Reflist Triage Emergency medicine