by Bell Law | Oct 4, 2021 | Advice for Patients, Injury
Triage is the process of sorting and prioritizing patients for care.Becausethe processdetermines a patient’s place “in line” at the ER, it is important to understand and pay attention to yourtriagescore.
What Does Triage Mean?
The term refers to the sorting of sick or injured patients according to their need for emergency medical attention. Triage is thus the method hospital emergency departments use to determine who gets care first. Next, let’s look at how it works.
How Does It Work?
When a patient arrives, anER nurseperforms a brief,focused assessment and assigns the patient a triage acuity level,also known as a “triage score.” The acuity levelis a proxy measure of how longthepatientcan safely wait formedicalevaluationand treatment.Because the score can determine how fast a patient is seen by a doctor and evenwhat type of care the patient receives,atriagenurse mustaccuratelyassign, document, and report the patient’s acuity level.
What are the Triage Acuity Levels?
The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) stratifies patients into five acuity groups:
- Level 1 (resuscitation) requires immediate, life-saving intervention and includes patients with cardiopulmonary arrest, major trauma, severe respiratory distress, and seizures.
- Level 2 (emergent) requires an immediate nursing assessment and rapid treatment and includes patients who are in a high-risk situation, are confused, lethargic, or disoriented, or have severe pain or distress, including patients with stroke, head injuries, asthma, and sexual-assault injuries.
- Level 3 (urgent) includes patients who need quick attention but can wait as long as 30 minutes for assessment and treatment and includes patients with signs of infection, mild respiratory distress, or moderate pain.
- Levels 4 and 5are considered “less urgent” and “non urgent,” respectively.
The accuracy of the acuity level is critical because it determines the care thepatient subsequently receives and the urgency with which it is provided.Sometimes ER nurses just get the triage score wrong. As a result, patients get placed further back “in the line” than their condition requires.
If you have the misfortune of finding yourself at the ER, you should ask for your triage score. And if the score seems “off,” ask the nurse about the basis for the score, and if necessary, double-check with the charge nurse or with the attending physician.
The Bell Law Firm represents clients who have suffered death or catastrophic injury in medical malpractice and other personal injury cases.
