Emergency Triage Levels

Emergency triage levels are based on the severity of a patient's condition and are used to order and prioritize treatment. Using a triage level system is particularly helpful when there are mass casualties or if resourses are insufficient to treat all patients right away. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality states there are two types of emergency triage: simple and advanced. Simple triage is what emergency workers use for mass casualties. In advanced triage, those who are more likely to survive are given priority over those who are not.

Triage Procedure

• Emergency personnel perform a triage procedure in less than one minute. Once a patient is evaluated, he is assigned an emergency triage level: minor, delayed, immediate and deceased. Emergency workers begin the triage procedure by asking the victims who can walk to separate themselves from those who cannot. Ambulatory victims are given a color-coded tag that says "minor." Victims who cannot walk will have their respiratory, circulatory and neurological functions examined. They are then labeled with color-coded tags that say "delayed," "immediate" or "deceased."

Minor

• Victims in an emergency who are able to walk and only have minor injuries are placed at a "minor" triage level. "Minor" emergency triage tags are typically green and let emergency workers know victims with these tags should be treated only when patients of a higher priority are evacuated. Patients with these tags may be asked to assist emergency workers until more help arrives. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, it can take anywhere from three hours to three days before patients with "minor" tags receive medical care.

Delayed

• If a victim in an emergency situation has a radial pulse, does not have fatal or life-threatening injuries, is able to follow simple commands, but cannot sit or stand because of injuries, she is given a yellow-colored "delayed" tag. This tag tells emergency workers that a victim does not need treatment within the next hour, but treatment should not be delayed for more than six hours.

Immediate

• Victims with a red "Immediate" tag require immediate medical attention because they have life-threatening injuries. These patients cannot breathe well, lack a radial pulse, cannot follow simple commands and/or are in shock. Emergency workers know that patients with a red tag must receive immediate care.

Deceased

• Those who have fatal wounds, or have died because of a mass-casualty incident, are given black labels that read "deceased." If an emergency worker sees a victim is not breathing, he will try to clear the airway and perform CPR. If CPR fails, it is assumed the patient is dead. If a victim is not already dead, but death is inevitable, emergency workers will give them pain medication until death.