What does «triaje» mean in Spanish?
- Triage originated in military medicine, but is widely used in medical situations where there is more demand for resources than can be immediately met. In the general practice of emergency medicine, patients presenting to an emergency room typically receive basic triage from a nurse, who determines who needs immediate care, urgent care, and care when available; patients are not brought to physicians on a first-come, first-served basis. Unlike general emergency care, triage takes on special importance in multiple-casualty incidents and mass casualty incidents. These, of course, are common in battlefield situations, where the practice came into use. The goal of triage is to optimize several different factors: the severity of the patient's condition, the resources available, the likelihood that a given set of resources will produce a desirable outcome, and the overall demand on resources. Triage, in the case of multiple and mass casualty incidents that fall under the purview of an emergency response system, usually begins in the field.