Emergency Department Q&A: Department Now
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      What does triage mean?

      Triage is a process of assigning urgency to patients that assists with determining the order that patients should be seen. Common triage tools are the Australasian Triage Score (ATS) or the Manchester Triage Score.

      Each jurisdiction has a triage scale. The Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) identifies the patients acuity and allocates a number of 1 to 5 depending of the level of clinical need. Each triage score has a suggested time frame expected for a clinician to see a patient.