Role of Triage in Emergency Care

Role of Triage in Emergency Care

Emergency care is a speciality in the medical field concerned with providing health services to unscheduled patients with injuries and illnesses that require immediate medical attention. They offer the first step of treatment to initiate stabilization to individuals with life-threatening injuries which call for a lot of skills and specialization. The emergency care unit plays a massive role in determining the well being of a patient received under critical conditions.  Triage is the process used to determine the urgency and severity of patients’ conditions to help decide the order of treatment of a large population of patients. It is usually applied when the number of patients is high compared to the healthcare services available which cannot attend to all of them at the same time.

Role of Triage in Emergency Care

Triage is very important in emergency health care since it enables medical practitioners to know the severity and danger of the injury on the patient. It is performed by a triage nurse whose primary role is to make the first assessment on patient brought to the emergency room. The job demands for quick decision making since the patient must be fixed in the order of treatment as fast as possible. Role of Triage in Emergency Care A fast evaluation of a patient’s condition in the hectic and chaotic environment of the emergency room demands a lot of experience and knowledge. Time management is one of the significant factors considered when working as a triage nurse.  Any wrong decision during this step of health care delivery affects the safety of the patient and may cause permanent damage and even death.

Duties performed by triage nurses in emergency care also include cleaning injuries, taking blood samples, provision of stabilization medication to patients and moving patients where they need to be for better care. Triage nurses put patients in different categories for health care services attention depending on where the injury has been sustained and their ability to stop further damage. An injury that they cannot do anything to prevent it from worsening is categorized high priority and is attended to first. Those injuries that can be worked on are put in the lower category because they present no danger to the patient. Medical resources are also used sparingly since it aids in the proper planning of the treatment process for it to be efficient.

Role of Triage in Emergency Care