Taipei City Government

In preparations for incidents with large number of casualties, the Taipei City Fire Department (TCFD) designated the first Friday of every month to be “Trauma Day” – the group training time for the agency’s emergency medical personnel. 

The routine drills will take place from 9 AM to 11 AM and will involve paramedics and ambulances from 45 fire stations under the agency. The participants will perform standard EMT treatment procedures during the exercise, as well as conduct simple triage and rapid treatment (START), classify patients based on their level of injuries, and upload patient data into the Triage and Treatment Tracking app. 

TCFD is the first municipal fire department to incorporate the Mass Casualty Emergency Treatment Management System and the Mass Casualty Electronic Medical Tag Tracking System – both developed by the National Fire Agency – into its drills. The agency pointed out that if mass casualty incidents similar to the Formosa Fun Coast Dust Explosion were to take place in the future, the staff would be better prepared and rapidly coordinate with neighboring municipalities to optimize the dispatch of patients to hospitals, boosting the efficiency of emergency medical response.

The name “Trauma Day” is based on World Trauma Day, and the program drew reference from the “Triage Tuesday” program implemented by EMS agencies in the US. The drills will familiarize frontline medical workers and EMS personnel with triaging protocols and procedures to better prepare them for real incidents.

The agency reminds the public to call 119 and secure the help of EMS personnel in the case of emergencies to safeguard the patient’s right to treatment. At the same time, it urges patients with non-severe injury or conditions to take other forms of transportation to the hospital and free up ambulances for those with urgent medical needs.