Who Invented The Triage

[weecalf]

On several occcassion I have seen the triage nurse in fifteen /twenty minutes and then waited what seemed like days to see a doctor for two minutes .Can you just say I need a doctor or I would not be here and not to be colour coded as from likely to died or could sit out there for ten hours. Is the triage a gimmick to say we have cut waiting times?

[ladyalex]

Probably

[DTCwordfan]

Funny you mention it, as kimchi and Korea are being discussed on another thread. I may be wrong but wasn't it a front line technique brought in by the Americans for quick screening of wounded and their prioritisation in the Korean War? It came with the development of the M.A.S.H system of front-line surgery....

I may be completely off the wall on this......

[Buenchico]

Blame the French!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triage
It's always a good idea anyway ;-)

[sunny-dave]

So would you like a sprained ankle seen before acute chest pains, just because they pitched up at A&E first?

Triage works - it prevents unnecessary deaths.

[Mamyalynne]

I think you are right there DTC it is very useful in large scale situations - but to return to the everyday, would you really rather someone with a sprained ankle was seen before someone struggling for breath or losing blood?

[DTCwordfan]

well there we are!

[Mamyalynne]

Snap Dave !

[ladyalex]

Earlier than that, DT..WWI or even the Napoleonic Wars According to Wikipedia.

However, I suspect that , as weecalf says, it can be used in A and E departments to massage waiting times.

[Hopkirk]

When I presented myself at A&E, the triage nurse took my temperature and immediately acted as it was dangerously high.

I'm glad I wasn't left for four hours before they noticed this.

[weecalf]

Did not suggest sprain versus heart attack .The point I was making was there was no on there and still we waited because a nurse decided we would not die there and then

[Mamyalynne]

An empty accident unit and hours to wait, yes I would be cross - make a complaint.

[rockyracoon]

I was in A&E yesterday with my daughter, it had all changed since the last time I was there, a separate A&E for kids, who knew! there were signs up all over the place about waiting and how it might seem that they are not busy but could be tending to ambulance arrivals etc

[Peter Pedant]

.

oh I thought everyone knew they were used to massage waiting times

wiki article is long but good - Baron de Larrey started it all along with field ambulances. Even the Iron Duke envied Larrey's systems. He also starred in Fanny Burney's mastectomy in ooo 1823 - which was done without anaesthetic and described in loving detail by herself.

[karenmac60]

Just because the waiting room was empty doesn't mean they weren't busy behind the scenes. Any time mr mac has been in there have been a couple of people waiting, but once I've been allowed through to see him, it's been a completely different story.