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Walk the Even Hospital Database by book and chapter — the raw source passages that ground Ask, DDx, and the rest.
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Healthcare systems are inherently supply-constrained, with demand levels that fluctuate unpredictably. When demand exceeds the available supply of resources, healthcare systems must allocate these resources accordingly. During extreme demand, such as mass casualty incidents or natural disasters, the system can become nearly nonfunctional due to overwhelming need. Hospitals are expected to maintain functionality for up to 96 hours without external resources. However, to remain functional in the face of such extreme demand, these facilities must either increase available resources or redistribute them more efficiently. Strategies aimed at helping hospitals and healthcare systems handle surges in unanticipated demand have garnered increasing academic interest. Inspired by the military tactic of prioritizing the least injured soldiers to conserve resources for the more critically injured, reverse triage has been recommended in the literature as a method to address situations of unusually high demand. Reverse triage focuses hospital resources on critically ill patients in the field or emergency department by identifying and discharging admitted patients who have a relatively low risk of complications if discharged early. This strategy aims to reduce morbidity and mortality for the greatest number of patients while maximizing treatment capacity in the shortest time.[1]