Treatment Areas, Transport, and Communications Practice Questions

25 multiple-choice questions on Treatment areas, transport, and communications for paramedic and EMT students, from Chapter 48 (Incident Management and Mass-Casualty Incidents). Read each question, pick your answer, then tap Show answer to check it and read the explanation.

25 practice questions

1. The treatment area at an MCI should ideally be located:

   1. A. Next to the wreckage so the carries are kept short
   2. B. Far from the scene at the staging area
   3. C. Near the scene, clear of hazards, with road access
   4. D. Downhill and downwind to protect the command post
   Show answer

   Answer: C. Near the scene, clear of hazards, with road access

   A good treatment area is close to the scene, free of hazards (often upwind and uphill), large enough for all patients, and has easy access to the ambulance loading area. Downwind or downhill sites expose patients to smoke and runoff. Right beside the wreckage leaves patients and crews exposed to the hazards, and placing treatment at distant staging adds long carries and mixes patients with arriving vehicles.

2. Treatment areas are often marked with colored tarps or flags so that:

   1. A. Patients are grouped by the type of injury
   2. B. Each arriving crew has its own area to work
   3. C. Arriving units know where staging is set up
   4. D. Patients go to the area matching their tag
   Show answer

   Answer: D. Patients go to the area matching their tag

   Tarps or flags matching the triage colors (red, yellow, green) let litter teams and patients find the right area quickly and keep the categories separate. Areas are organized by priority, not by injury type or by crew, and staging is a separate area for vehicles.

3. You are setting up the treatment area beside a parking lot that ambulances will enter from the north. The red (immediate) section is best placed:

   1. A. Nearest the ambulance loading zone
   2. B. Farthest from the loading zone
   3. C. In the middle, between yellow and green
   4. D. Nearest the triage area for quick intake
   Show answer

   Answer: A. Nearest the ambulance loading zone

   Red patients will be transported first, so their area is placed closest to the ambulance loading point to cut delays. Placing them far away or in the middle of the area slows their transport, and closeness to triage matters less than closeness to the ambulances.

4. In the treatment area, patients should be placed in a way that:

   1. A. Packs as many as possible into a small space
   2. B. Groups patients by the vehicle they were in
   3. C. Keeps families together, ahead of priority
   4. D. Lets providers reach and reassess each one
   Show answer

   Answer: D. Lets providers reach and reassess each one

   Patients are laid out in rows, often head to the center aisle, with room for providers to move, treat, and reassess each one. Grouping by vehicle or family ahead of priority mixes categories and delays care.

5. Secondary triage (retriage) in the treatment area is needed because:

   1. A. Patients' conditions change after primary triage
   2. B. Primary triage tags are thrown out on arrival
   3. C. Each hospital requires a second triage system
   4. D. Physicians must assign each patient's priority
   Show answer

   Answer: A. Patients' conditions change after primary triage

   Primary triage is a quick snapshot; conditions worsen or improve, and some injuries are missed. Retriage in treatment, often with a more detailed assessment, ensures priorities stay accurate.

6. A yellow-tagged man in the treatment area becomes confused, pale, and diaphoretic, with a weak radial pulse at 128 beats/min. You should:

   1. A. Leave him yellow until a physician sees him
   2. B. Upgrade him to red and move him to that area
   3. C. Keep him in yellow and give a fluid bolus
   4. D. Tag him black since his condition is worsening
   Show answer

   Answer: B. Upgrade him to red and move him to that area

   Retriage is continuous, and new signs of shock mean the patient now meets immediate criteria. Moving him to red gets him earlier transport. Leaving him yellow because of his original tag is a common error.

7. A green-tagged woman in the minor area tells you she now has worsening abdominal pain and feels lightheaded. The best action is to:

   1. A. Keep her green, as she can still walk
   2. B. Send her by bus with the other greens
   3. C. Reassess her and retriage her as needed
   4. D. Give her water and tell her to sit down
   Show answer

   Answer: C. Reassess her and retriage her as needed

   Walking patients can still have serious internal injuries, so new complaints call for reassessment and retriage. Being able to walk does not keep her green once her condition changes, sending her on the bus with other minor patients delays care, and giving her fluids by mouth could miss intra-abdominal bleeding.

8. Care given in the treatment area during a large MCI should focus on:

   1. A. Stabilizing care until they can be moved
   2. B. Definitive surgical care before transport
   3. C. Full workups for each patient who arrives
   4. D. Comfort care while awaiting a physician
   Show answer

   Answer: A. Stabilizing care until they can be moved

   Treatment areas give stabilizing care, such as airway support, bleeding control, oxygen, and splinting, while patients wait for transport. Definitive surgical care happens at hospitals, not on scene. Full workups slow the movement of every patient. Comfort care alone is for expectant patients, not the general plan, and patients do not wait for a physician on scene before receiving active care.

9. At an MCI with 20 red patients, the transport unit leader should send them:

   1. A. To the closest hospital so transport is short
   2. B. Across several hospitals by their capacity
   3. C. To the regional trauma center as a group
   4. D. To whichever hospital each crew chooses
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   Answer: B. Across several hospitals by their capacity

   Red patients are spread across hospitals based on the capacity and capability that hospitals report through the medical communications coordinator. Sending them to the closest hospital simply moves the MCI to that emergency department. Sending 20 red patients to one trauma center as a group overwhelms it, even though some patients need trauma care. Letting crews pick destinations is a classic cause of uneven distribution and lost tracking.

10. At a bus crash, the treatment area holds 6 red, 10 yellow, and 14 green patients, and 4 ambulances arrive. Which patients usually go first?

    1. A. Green (minor) patients
    2. B. Yellow (delayed) patients
    3. C. Red (immediate) patients
    4. D. Black (expectant) patients
    Show answer

    Answer: C. Red (immediate) patients

    Red patients have life threats that can be fixed with prompt care, so they are transported first, followed by yellow and then green. Black patients are not transported ahead of salvageable patients.

11. At a large MCI, a bus has been brought in to move green patients. This is appropriate because:

    1. A. Green patients need no care during the trip
    2. B. Buses can go with no EMS staff on board
    3. C. Bus trips do not need a destination plan
    4. D. Minor patients can travel together safely
    Show answer

    Answer: D. Minor patients can travel together safely

    Buses or vans can move many green patients at once with a few EMS providers, freeing ambulances for red and yellow patients. Green patients still need reassessment en route and at the hospital, so the bus carries EMS providers and goes to a hospital assigned by the transport unit leader.

12. At a festival MCI, the transport leader sends a busload of green patients to a hospital 25 minutes away, past two closer hospitals. This is wise because:

    1. A. Farther hospitals give better care to minor patients
    2. B. It keeps the bus off the busy roads near the scene
    3. C. Closer hospitals receive the more critical patients
    4. D. It gives the bus crew time to retriage en route
    Show answer

    Answer: C. Closer hospitals receive the more critical patients

    The closest hospitals fill quickly with red and yellow patients, so sending green patients to farther facilities preserves local capacity for those who need it most. Self-referred walking wounded often go to the closest hospital anyway. Avoiding busy roads and retriaging en route are side issues; the reason is to save nearby beds for patients who are more seriously hurt.

13. At a bus crash MCI, three green-tagged passengers say they feel fine and want to leave on their own. The best action is to:

    1. A. Hold them at the scene until a bus is ready
    2. B. Let them go without recording their names
    3. C. Retag them yellow so they must stay
    4. D. Record their details and give care advice
    Show answer

    Answer: D. Record their details and give care advice

    Adults who have decision-making capacity may decline transport even at an MCI. They still must be accounted for: record their names and tag numbers, do a quick check, explain the warning signs of delayed injury and where to get care, and document the refusal per protocol. Holding them against their will is not lawful. Letting them leave unrecorded breaks patient tracking and family reunification. Changing a tag to keep someone on scene misuses triage and takes yellow resources from patients who need them.

14. The transport unit leader should track each patient leaving the scene by recording:

    1. A. Each patient's full medical history and allergies
    2. B. Tag number, priority, unit, and destination
    3. C. The time the patient first arrived at triage
    4. D. The amount of each drug given in treatment
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    Answer: B. Tag number, priority, unit, and destination

    Patient tracking links the triage tag number, priority, transporting unit, and destination so that patients can be found and families notified later. A full history is not needed at this point.

15. An ambulance crew loads a red-tagged patient and asks where to go. The destination should be assigned by the:

    1. A. Transport unit leader
    2. B. Ambulance crew itself
    3. C. Triage unit leader
    4. D. Public information officer
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Transport unit leader

    The transport unit leader assigns destinations based on hospital capacity so that no one hospital is overwhelmed. Crews choosing their own destinations is a common cause of uneven patient distribution.

16. At an MCI, an ambulance from staging is called forward to the loading area. Traffic flow should be set up so ambulances:

    1. A. Back into the treatment area to load
    2. B. Enter and leave on a one-way loop
    3. C. Park in a row along the main road
    4. D. Turn around inside the triage area
    Show answer

    Answer: B. Enter and leave on a one-way loop

    A one-way flow, in and out of the loading zone, prevents ambulances from blocking each other and speeds loading. Backing into treatment areas or turning in triage endangers patients and providers.

17. A transport crew at an MCI should usually carry how many patients per ambulance?

    1. A. One patient per ambulance, as usual
    2. B. As many as the seats and cot hold
    3. C. As many as can be cared for safely
    4. D. One red paired with one yellow
    Show answer

    Answer: C. As many as can be cared for safely

    When transport is short, an ambulance may carry more than one patient, such as one red with one or two green, as long as the crew can monitor and treat each one. Holding to one patient per ambulance, as on a normal day, wastes scarce transport capacity. Filling every seat and the cot regardless of acuity can leave a critical patient without care. A fixed pairing of one red with one yellow ignores how sick each patient is and the size of the crew.

18. Triage tags at an MCI are important for communication because they:

    1. A. Show priority and track care and location
    2. B. Replace the need for a patient care report
    3. C. Record each receiving physician's orders
    4. D. Tell the patient where to wait for family
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Show priority and track care and location

    Tags give a visible priority and a unique number that follows the patient from triage to treatment, transport, and the hospital, often with space for findings and care given. They do not replace later patient care documentation.

19. Many triage tags have tear-off strips at the bottom. These strips are mainly used to:

    1. A. Show the transport crew the patient's age
    2. B. Tell the patient's family where to go
    3. C. Show which drugs the patient has received
    4. D. Mark changes in priority during retriage
    Show answer

    Answer: D. Mark changes in priority during retriage

    Tear-off color strips let providers quickly change a patient's category by removing strips, with the remaining color showing the current priority. Some tags also have detachable numbered stubs for patient tracking.

20. At an MCI, radio communications work best when:

    1. A. Responders share one dispatch channel
    2. B. Roles have set channels and use plain words
    3. C. Crews use 10-codes so they speak more briefly
    4. D. Responders talk mostly by personal cell phone
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    Answer: B. Roles have set channels and use plain words

    Giving command, operations, and the medical branch their own channels, and using plain language, keeps radio traffic manageable and understood across agencies. One shared dispatch channel is quickly overwhelmed. 10-codes differ between agencies and cause confusion. Cell phones bypass command, leave no shared record, and may fail when networks overload.

21. On an MCI, the transport unit leader calls the regional hospital coordination center. Its role is to:

    1. A. Order all hospitals to cancel surgeries
    2. B. Send physicians from hospitals to the scene
    3. C. Decide each patient's treatment priority
    4. D. Share hospital capacity and divide patients
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    Answer: D. Share hospital capacity and divide patients

    A regional hospital coordination or medical resource center tracks bed and specialty availability and helps distribute patients so no one hospital is overwhelmed. Triage priority is set by EMS at the scene.

22. You are transport unit leader at a nightclub fire and make your first call to the hospitals. They most need to hear, as early as possible:

    1. A. Each patient's name and date of birth
    2. B. The cause of the incident and the suspects
    3. C. Number and severity of patients expected
    4. D. The names of the responders on the scene
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    Answer: C. Number and severity of patients expected

    Hospitals need to know how many patients are coming and how badly hurt they are so they can activate their surge plans. Names and the cause of the incident are less important for their preparation.

23. When you tag a patient during primary triage, the tag is best attached:

    1. A. To a wrist or ankle, not to clothing
    2. B. To the coat so rescuers can see it
    3. C. Around the stretcher handle for speed
    4. D. In a pocket to keep it from tearing
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    Answer: A. To a wrist or ankle, not to clothing

    The tag must stay with the patient from triage to the hospital, so it goes on a limb, usually a wrist or ankle, where it stays visible. Clothing such as a coat is often cut off or removed in treatment, and the tag goes with it. Stretchers and backboards are swapped between patients and vehicles, so a tag tied to one can end up with the wrong person. A tag in a pocket cannot be seen, which defeats its purpose.

24. A treatment area is set up for 30 patients at a stadium collapse. After 30 minutes, the green area holds 60 patients and is growing. The treatment unit leader should:

    1. A. Turn new green patients away from the area
    2. B. Release those who say they feel fine
    3. C. Request more staff and expand the area
    4. D. Hold new arrivals in triage until room opens
    Show answer

    Answer: C. Request more staff and expand the area

    Treatment areas must expand to fit the incident; the leader requests more personnel and space through the chain of command. Releasing patients just because they say they feel fine skips evaluation and risks missed injuries, and holding arrivals in triage backs up the whole flow.

25. A patient tagged red has been in the treatment area for 40 minutes, but no ambulances are available. The best plan is to:

    1. A. Continue care and reassess until transport
    2. B. Change her tag to yellow until a unit arrives
    3. C. Send her by private car with a family member
    4. D. Retag her expectant to free staff for others
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Continue care and reassess until transport

    Delayed transport does not change priority; she keeps her red tag, receives ongoing care and reassessment, and goes on the next available unit. Downgrading her tag to fit resources would hide her true need.