Emergency Department Systems

Hospitals are adopting electronic triage systems to increase the survivability of their patients. In the past, these systems were paper-based and typically tagged on (physically attached to) the patient. In our training with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), we were even given briefings on how to quickly triage a situation. There were only three tests: breathing, pulse, and how alert the subject is. Triage systems in a emergency department (ED) are much more complex. Typically, the ED triage system accepts patients and triages them based on the type of symptoms presented. The symptoms are input into the system, and a possible cause is defined. However, if the patient presents themselves with a gunshot wound, there is little time to use the triage system.