Triage Process
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Triage is a process in which patients’ priority is determined through the severity of the patient’s condition or the like wood of patient recovery without undergoing treatment. When resources of treatment are insufficient, it rations patient treatment efficiently; i.e., influence in the order of treatment and emergency, emergency transport, or even the destination for patient transport. In the triage process, there are five levels in which they work out in patients accessing.
The first level is Resuscitation (Christ et al. 2010). This level deals with conditions that are a threat to the limb or life of the patient. At this level, the patient may lead t to death since the conditions are worse. The second level is Emergent. This is a condition that is a threat to potential life, limb, or even function. There is a third level, which is Urgent. These are serious conditions that need emergency intervention. What follows after Urgent is Less Urgent. At this level, condition relates to patient potential complications or distress that can benefit from intervention.
The last level in Triage is Non- Urgent. The patient’s condition is non-urgent or is part of a chronic problem (Iserson et al. 2007). They are also different types of triage that depend on n occurrence of the scene. The first type is a simple triage. This type of triage mostly are used at the scene of an accident for the patients who require critical attention, and immediate transport to the hospital is being sorted immediately. It can be started before the transport is available. Nurses or physicians complete initial assessment; every patient is labeled concerning the urgency of treatment. The label may identify the patient, any assessment finding, the patient’s priority for the medical assessment of any transport priority from the emergency department. Patients can be labeled through the use of marker pens or colored flagging tape for identification.
Another of triage level is advanced triage. In Advanced triage, trained nurses, doctors, or paramedics may decide that the seriously injured patients should not undergo care since they are unlikely to survive. This is mostly used in places where treatment resources are scarce, where they divert the resources those resources away from the seriously injured. Through this, the chances of patients with higher likelihood are increased. This type is not legal but is necessary when the medical professionals declare that the resources are scarce. The prioritized resources include the time spend in treatment, the drugs used, or any other limited resources. This mostly happens in a mass shooting, terrorist attack, volcanic eruption, among many others. In such a situation, any attention given to given who will die can be considered as withdrawn care from the people expected to recover.
Reverse triage
This refers to a process of discharging the patient when the medical system is more stressed than before. In case a serious patient arrives in the hospital, and there are insufficient beds, the existing patient in the hospital can be triaged (Göransson et al. 2005). The patient who does not require immediate care is discharged to create room for the incoming, seriously injured patient.
It is also undertriage and over triage types. In undertriage, the severity of injury or illness is underestimated. This can be categorized into three priorities, i.e., immediate, delayed, and minimal. In over triage, the severity of illness is overestimated. An example of this can be categories as minimal, delayed, and immediate.
The last type of triage is telephone triage. Over the phone, decision-makers effectively access the patient’s symptoms and give directives based on the patient’s urgency.
Through the type of and levels of triage, patient safety is taken care- of. The most urgent patient undergoes the priority to save lives since life important. In every medical institution, they must employ such discipline for the safety of patients.
References
Christ, M., Grossmann, F., Winter, D., Bingisser, R., & Platz, E. (2010). Modern triage in the emergency department. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 107(50), 892.
Iserson, K. V., & Moskop, J. C. (2007). Triage in medicine, part I: concept, history, and types. Annals of emergency medicine, 49(3), 275-281
Göransson, K. E., Ehrenberg, A., & Ehnfors, M. (2005). Triage in emergency departments: national survey. Journal of clinical nursing, 14(9), 1067-1074..