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TRIAGE
See Also "Extreme Emergency"Triage is the preliminary assessment of
patients to determine priority of need and proper place of treatment. In order to
provide all patients with urgent medical care a triage system is in place in
this practice
Important information to determine when a patient is seen includes:
·
Duration of the problem (minutes, hours, days) ·
Severity of the symptoms ·
Assessment of the patient. Be especially vigilant with the patients who are reticent about their
symptoms and ‘not want to be a bother’.
It is the RESPONSIBILITY of All staff to observe for severely ill patients in the waiting room Things to look for include:
·
Poor colour, grey/blue/very pale
·
Obvious distress or severe pain ·
Breathing difficulties ·
Bleeding or trauma ·
Fading consciousness, passing out ·
Vomiting ·
Flaccid or floppy children
The following is given as a guideline only and staff must treat all
cases individually. URGENT MEDICAL PROBLEMS
ACTION = CONTACT DOCTOR STAT ·
Breathing difficulties ·
Chest pain ·
Bleeding ·
Loss of consciousness ·
Trauma e.g. burns, eye injury, cuts, head injury ·
Migraine ·
Severely distraught patients Observe for ·
All of the above ·
High fevers ·
Gastroenteritis ·
Sudden onset of a rash and a sick child.
TO BE SEEN THAT DAY·
All of the above ·
Severe pain ·
Children with ear ache ·
Vomiting and diarrhoea ·
Sprains, strains and sporting injuries ·
Cystitis ·
Any ACUTE severe illness
This list is not exclusive all cases must be treated individually. There
are many other cases that are urgent. Assess all cases on their merits. THE FINAL DECISION IS THE DOCTORS IF IN DOUBT ASK FOR HELP.
Action in the event of emergency flow chart is located at the back of
the manual Prepared:
April 1999 Reviewed: Friday, 06. February 2009 | |||||||
