Reference table
Triage
A reference table of the triage categories used to rank the urgency of a patient's presentation and the response each category sets.
Triage ranks the urgency of a patient's presentation into one of five categories, each setting the priority of the response. This page is a reference to those categories, the colour that marks each one, and what a triage record holds.
Triage categories
A triage record places a patient's presentation into one category, from most urgent to least. The category sets the priority the presentation is given and the colour it shows on the emergency ribbon.
| Category | Colour | Priority it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Red | The patient is seen at once. |
| Emergent | Orange | The patient is seen ahead of the queue. |
| Urgent | Yellow | The patient is seen soon. |
| Less-urgent | Green | The patient is seen once a clinician is free. |
| Non-urgent | Blue | The patient is seen in turn. |
The colour follows the category
Each category shows a fixed colour on the emergency ribbon, so a glance conveys the current urgency. The colour is set by the category, keeping the two aligned across every screen.
The triage record
Each triage decision is recorded as its own entry against the visit.
The urgency category, from immediate to non-urgent.
The presenting complaint in plain terms.
Any note the triaging clinician adds.
The clinician who set the category.
The moment the decision was recorded.
Re-triage
A patient's urgency can change while they wait. A fresh triage decision is recorded as a new entry that supersedes the previous one, and the current category is the most recent. The earlier entries stay in the record, so the full course of a presentation reads back in order.
Common confusions
How many triage categories are there?
There are five categories, from immediate at the most urgent to non-urgent at the least, each with its own colour.
What happens when a patient's urgency changes?
A new triage entry supersedes the previous one. The current category is the most recent, and the earlier entries stay in the record.
Where does triage appear?
Triage appears for emergency presentations, on the emergency ribbon, where the current category and its colour lead the view.
Read how documents and files are attached to the record.