The importance of triage in emergency medicine

Subject Areas : clinical veterinary science

Reza Hashemi ^{1 *}

1 -

Received: 2024-12-20 Accepted : 2025-02-13 Published : 2025-04-10

Keywords: Triage, emergency, vital signs.,

Abstract :

Triage is the rapid assessment and classification of patients referred to the emergency department of veterinary medical centers based on the severity of the disease. The purpose of triage is to prioritize patients based on the severity of the disease symptoms, prevent wasting time, and perform necessary therapeutic interventions in critically ill patients so that more patients can be saved from certain death. Other patients who are not in critical conditions and whose vital signs are stable are given priority. In the emergency department, the technician, nurse, or emergency veterinarian examines the patient after taking a history from the animal owner and, if the patient requires cardiopulmonary resuscitation, begins resuscitation after requesting assistance from other medical personnel. Patients with abnormalities in the cardiorespiratory, nervous, and renal systems should first have their vital signs carefully evaluated and recorded. After that, the emergency veterinarian should take the necessary measures to stabilize the patient's vital signs. The triage room should be equipped with the necessary equipment, including oxygen tanks, equipment for venous or bone catheterization, intravenous fluids, electrocardiography, blood pressure measurement, and a resuscitation trolley. The resuscitation trolley should have all the necessary equipment for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including tracheal tubes of various sizes, laryngoscope, defibrillator, and emergency medications. Also, a suitable tube for taking blood samples for measuring hematocrit, total protein, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, arterial blood gas analysis, and serum lactate should be available. It should be noted that the vital signs should first be stabilized to remove the patient from the critical condition, then the patient should be referred to the diagnostic or surgical departments for more detailed evaluation (secondary evaluation). In other words, the secondary evaluation should be performed after the initial evaluation and stabilization of the patient's vital signs.

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