Why do I wait in
Emergency?
Latrobe Regional Hospital’s Emergency
Department is available to treat any person that needs health care. To
ensure the seriously ill and injured are cared for in the quickest possible
time, there is an order of priority that determines who receives assistance
first.
Emergencies are not predictable.
People can arrive at the Emergency Department at any time and in varying
numbers.
The first person you see when you come
to the Emergency Department is the triage nurse. The triage nurse determines
how urgently you need medical attention and assigns a triage category from
One to Five. Category One patients are treated first, then Category Two and
so on, with Category Five being the lowest priority.
Triage Categories provide a safety
mechanism to make sure that people who are most in need of help are seen
quickly. This means that waiting times can be longer for those people who do
not have very serious conditions. Waiting times may seem long for some people,
depending on how busy the Emergency Department is at the time.
The Department of Human Services has set waiting time
limits for each triage category and hospitals are required to meet those
standards. During the 2005-2006 financial year, Latrobe Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department achieved these standards. Our waiting times were
shorter compared to the average waiting times in other rural and metropolitan
Emergency Departments.
This
flow chart shows the typical process involved when a person moves through the
Emergency Department.
A
patient’s flow through Emergency depends on the severity of their illness or
injury.
Sorting
urgent from non-urgent
The word Triage is French for “sorting”. A famous French
surgeon, Dominique Jean Larrey, from Napoleon Bonaparte’s army developed the
medical triage system on the battlefield.
Dominique devised this method to quickly evaluate and
categorise (or sort) the wounded while battle was in progress. He then evacuated
those soldiers requiring the most urgent medical attention first,
irrespective of their rank.
This method of sorting those who require medical attention
continued and was refined in today’s modern world of medicine and treatment.
Each Triage Category has a recommended
time to treat, depending on clinical urgency. These have been outlined below
for your information:
Category One
Resuscitation case requiring
immediate treatment. For example, major trauma, cardiac arrest,
unconsciousness and shock.
Category Two
Emergency case requiring treatment
within 10 minutes. For example, severe trauma, chest pain, severe pain,
severe breathing difficulty, chemical or acid in the eyes, the swallowing of
poison or drug overdose.
Category Three
Urgent case requiring treatment
within 30 minutes. For example, moderate trauma, infection, breathing
difficulty, severe hypertension, high blood sugar level above 16,
moderate limb injury or severe cuts.
Category
Four
Semi-urgent
case requiring assessment and treatment within one hour of arrival in the
Emergency Department. For example, the removal of foreign objects,
difficulty swallowing, minor head injury, eye inflammation, minor limb injury
– sprains/ possible fracture/ uncomplicated cuts.
Category
Five
Non-urgent patient condition in which
treatment can be delayed for up to two hours from arrival. For example,
minor wounds and abrasions, cuts not requiring stitching and minor symptoms
of low risk conditions such as a cold.
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