Triage Training

Triage is a French word that loosely translates to the word "sort" or "choose." It has been used in hospitals and most often in wartime when medical personnel had to choose which injured soldier to work on first in order of urgency. Triage today includes not only wartime use but standard hospital practice, especially after a natural or man-made disaster when there are not enough personnel to assist every patient. Today's triage training is given as part of a class in emergency medical response preparedness to train medical and firefighter units to be ready to respond to disasters and to assist with large groups of injured people.

Certification

• Courses are offered in triage training through schools, cities and the Red Cross and usually consist of a certain number of hours to be completed to receive a certificate. These classes may work in conjunction with training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid.

Identification

• In triage training, students learn to sort patients by category: Immediate--victim has life-threatening injuries and immediate care is needed to save the patient's life. Delayed--injuries are not life-threatening and most likely the patient will survive even with delayed care. Dead--patient is not responding to attempts to start breathing and resources are needed to assist with the first group.

Evaluation

• Triage training involves evaluating each patient with three steps that include checking the airway, checking bleeding and circulation, and checking mental status. If a patient fails any one of these steps, immediate attention is required. If the patient passes all of these steps, delayed medical care is necessary, freeing medical personnel to help those with urgent needs.

Assessing the Situation

• Triage courses include lessons on assessing the situation, which includes taking the time to gather information such as number of victims, the geographic area and risk factors. Once the area is assessed, students are trained in the procedure of starting with the closest victim and working out. At that time, medical personnel will be able to categorize each patient.

Safety

• Triage training includes protecting yourself against unsafe conditions. Students in triage training learn about hazardous materials, the importance of wearing safety equipment including goggles and masks, and changing gloves between patients.

Triage Nurse

• Triage is also used daily in hospitals for all patients being admitted through a specially trained triage nurse who is trained in managing patient flow and accessing patient care. Often patients who are not considered urgent will be required to wait, while patients with urgent needs will be sent for treatment.