Which of the following describes the Red tag criteria in START triage?

• A. RR greater than 29 or less than 10, no radial pulse, unable to follow simple commands, less than one year old
• B. RR between 10 and 29, radial pulse present
• C. Ambulatory
• D. Not breathing

Answer: (A)

In START triage, a Red tag signals immediate life-saving needs. The red criteria are designed to flag patients who are most at risk and require rapid intervention. The key indicators include extreme breathing rates (either very fast or very slow), absent radial pulse indicating poor perfusion, and inability to follow simple commands which shows altered mental status. For infants under one year, the same sense applies: severe abnormalities in respiration or perfusion, or an inability to follow commands, point to an immediate threat to life.

So a patient with a severely abnormal respiratory rate, no pulse, and inability to follow commands—especially if they’re under one year old—meets the red-tag criteria because they are in urgent need of life-saving care. Being ambulatory or having a normal-to-mildly abnormal respiration with a present pulse would not be red, and not breathing by itself is typically treated as the black (deceased) category after airway interventions, not red.