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Survival & First Aid

Wilderness Survival Priority Triage

For multi-casualty incidents — ranks who needs attention first using a simple MARCH-based flow.

Patient inputs (set priority 1 = highest)

Click "Add patient" for each injured person. Then "Triage" to rank them.

Result

Enter values above and the calculator will appear here.
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A natural placement between the calculator and the explanation.

What this solves — and what it doesn't

When more than one person is hurt, the hardest decision is order of attention. Standard wilderness triage uses MARCH (Massive bleeding, Airway, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia/Head) but you also weigh distance to evac and whether the patient can walk. This tool lets you enter several patients quickly and ranks them by a simplified score.

How to read the result

The output is a ranked list with each patient’s score and the inputs that contributed. Red (top of list) is the patient to treat first; green can wait.

The biggest weight goes to absent breathing and arterial bleeding — those are minutes-from-death problems. Walking patients are deferred; unconscious patients with major bleeding jump the line.

Limitations

Frequently asked questions

Is this medical-grade?

No. It mirrors MARCH-style thinking but uses heuristics. Real triage is taught in Wilderness First Responder courses.

What if two patients tie?

Treat the one further from evac first; moving them early matters more.

Should I call SAR before triaging?

If alone, yes — make the call first, then attend. If with multiple rescuers, parallelize: one calls, one triages.

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