Which term describes an incident with more than 25 patients?

• A. Mass casualty incident
• B. Multi-patient incident
• C. Major medical incident
• D. Critical incident

Answer: (A)

This question tests recognizing when the number of patients shifts a response from routine to a mass-scale operation. A mass casualty incident is used when the patient load overwhelms on-scene resources, requiring an expanded response, incident command, triage, and often mutual aid. The threshold of more than 25 patients is a commonly cited point at which responders switch to mass casualty protocols, because it signals that standard EMS resources will be insufficient without additional support and a coordinated plan. The other terms refer to multi-patient situations or generic events, but they don’t specifically denote the resource-straining scale that triggers mass casualty procedures. So, the term that best describes an incident with more than 25 patients is mass casualty incident.