triage

tri·age  (tr-äzh, träzh)

n.

1. A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated.

2. A system used to allocate a scarce commodity, such as food, only to those capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it.

3. A process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority: "For millions of Americans, each week becomes a stressful triage between work and home that leaves them feeling guilty, exhausted and angry" (Jill Smolowe).

tr.v. tri·aged, tri·ag·ing, tri·ag·es

To sort or allocate by triage: triaged the patients according to their symptoms.

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[French, from trier, to sort, from Old French.]

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triage [ˈtraɪɪdʒ]

n

1. (Medicine) the principle or practice of sorting casualties in battle or disaster or other patients into categories of priority for treatment

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the principle or practice of allocating limited resources, as of food or foreign aid, on a basis of expediency rather than according to moral principles or the needs of the recipients

[C18 (in the sense: sorting (goods) according to quality): from French; see try, -age]

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The evaluation and classification of casualties for purposes of treatment and evacuation. It consists of the immediate sorting of patients according to type and seriousness of injury, and likelihood of survival, and the establishment of priority for treatment and evacuation to assure medical care of the greatest benefit to the largest number.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

triage - sorting and allocating aid on the basis of need for or likely benefit from medical treatment or food sorting - grouping by class or kind or size

Translations

triage [ˈtriːɑːʒ] n (in hospital) → triage m