Triage is defined as sorting and allocating treatment to patients based upon the severity of

their conditions. Patients are sorted by a system which sets priorities designed to increase
the number of people who survive. Triage protocols are often used in cases of combat or
disaster situations when a large number of patients require treatment at once.

1. The Importance of Triage

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Triage is required for the effective management of an emergency situation.

This means patients are not seen according to when they arrive at the
hospital, but are seen according to guidelines which determine who needs
care most urgently and where care is most likely to be successful. In order
to remove confusion and misgivings, guidelines are in place which help
health care professionals to know how to prioritize. The importance of this
discipline can never be overstated, when one takes into consideration the
fact that in 2008, nearly 120 million emergency department visits were
made to hospitals in the US.

Triage Guidelines
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Typically in an Emergency Room, or what is called an Emergency

Department (ED), triage guidelines begin with general policies including
registration, documentation and referrals. When the actual triage work
starts, guidelines are given to classify patients into priority levels I, II, III
and IV based on factors relating to medical needs, social service needs,
mental health needs and substance abuse needs. When a caregiver gets
several patients at the same time, the guidelines have to be adhered to and
a response has to be undertaken. A lot depends on the judgment the
caregiver makes of the situation. The triage level may be changed if the
caregiver feels the need to do so, but this usually has to be done in
consultation with the doctor.

Classifying Patients
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The ailments that qualify for Priority Level I medical needs include
profuse bleeding, acute chest pains, unconsciousness and other severe
conditions. Patients who get admitted with such needs are classified as
priority Level I and need to be attended to first. This is followed by
priority level II, cases which include abscesses, a 2nd or 3rd trimester of
pregnancy with no prenatal care or a situation in which the patient has run
out of seizure or other life saving medications. Level III ailments include
less serious conditions such as unexplaind coughing, or pain that could
suggest the need for treatment but that does not indicate a life-threatening

condition. Level IV ailments are minor ailments such as non-life

threatening conditions, small cuts and bruises or other conditions that
neither cause great pain nor threaten overall health and well-being.