One of the most important parts of medical practice is triage, or the preliminary assessment of patients to determine the nature and urgency of the treatment they need. Hospitals employ triage to know which patients to prioritize and efficiently allocate their personnel and resources. Most triage systems have five risk levels, ranging from non-urgent to life-threatening.
Unlike other services, healthcare is not on a first-come, first-serve basis. Rather, the patients who need it the most will receive care first. In some instances, triage nurses are overwhelmed by a large number of cases arriving almost simultaneously, and compounded by some people who do not understand the system, demanding to be attended to first even if the condition is not life-threatening.
