Triage Criteria

When patients have emergencies or are in critical condition, they must go through triage to determine what type of medical attention is needed. Triage needs to be done quickly and accurately so that the patient receives prompt and effective medical care.

Vital Signs

• On-the-scene responders and hospital staff begin triage by taking a patient's vital signs. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that a person's pulse, breathing, temperature and blood pressure must be noted and logged as part of triage criteria. This information tells critical care staff what kind of condition a patient is in so that they can determine what the patient is suffering from and what type of medical treatment will be most effective.

Interview

• Triage criteria require clinicians to gather information about the patient, if the patient is coherent. Triage interview questions include when the onset of symptoms began, what events caused the patient to be in crisis, the patient's current and past health conditions, whether the patient has allergies to latex or medications and what prescription medications the patient is currently taking.

Categories

• Staff who triage victims or patients must know the criteria for triage categories, as well as the color-coded tags. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, triage categories include deceased, walking wounded, delayed and immediate. Corresponding tags must be used to help emergency staff identify what type of condition the patient is in. For instance, red tags go with "immediate" categories, while black tags indicate the person is deceased.