Contents
According to the medical segregation system, patients are divided into several groups depending on their prognosis for survival and recovery. The choice is made by a paramedic or a doctor, sometimes they only have a few dozen seconds to make a decision.
- Medical segregation (the so-called triage) has been used in medicine for centuries. It allows you to decide which patients should be treated first and which can wait a bit
- In Poland, the Start segregation system is usually used, according to which patients are marked with appropriate colors
- Medical segregation is used in disasters, accidents involving many people, as well as in hospital emergency departments
- Check your health. Just answer these questions
- You can find more such information on the TvoiLokony home page
Patient segregation, in accordance with the principles of an appropriate system, is one of the most important tasks of rescuers, doctors and nurses dealing with the treatment of patients in hospital emergency departments, as well as saving people injured in accidents and disasters. The idea is to be able to save and heal as many people as possible. Before a paramedic decides about the patient’s fate, he must check, among others, its temperature, heart rate, breathing pattern, mobility, etc.
The text continues below the video:
- Read also: What restrictions will apply in Poland from March 1? [LIST]
Medical segregation. It started with the Napoleonic era
Medical segregation, i.e. triaż (from the French “triage”, meaning sorting, sorting) is a procedure used in emergency medicine, which allows medical services to divide patients who require help depending on the severity of diseases or injuries.
It is difficult to say when exactly the term triage began to be used to refer to medical activities. The first information on this subject dates back to the Napoleonic times, apparently the segregation was then done by surgeon Dominik Larey. In 1846, British surgeon John Wilson described the principles of segregation in mass accidents. He divided the injuries into minor, serious and fatal. During World War I, the term triage was already commonly used. Wounded soldiers were sent to the segregation points marked in this way, and there the doctor on duty decided about their fate.
- A medical miracle in the US. The man “stopped” for 40 minutes. CPR saved him
Start system. Four patient colors
Several models of medical segregation are currently used in Poland, the most popular of which is system Start (from English Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment – simple selection and quick help). According to the assumptions, the rescuer has 30 seconds to determine the condition of the injured person. This principle applies primarily to accidents and disasters. The system marks individual groups of patients with colors. There are four groups and four colors: red, yellow, green and black. According to the system:
- Red – he is a priority patient, evacuation, medical assistance and transport are his priority. With proper medical care, the patient has a chance to survive and recover;
- Yellow – these are patients who have suffered injuries and require medical attention, but the delay in its implementation is not life threatening. Their appropriate treatment should begin no later than the first XNUMX hours after the incident;
- Green – these are patients who will survive, regardless of the type of assistance provided;
- Black – patients possibly not salvageable in a given situation.
Medical segregation. Which patients have priority?
Segregation also applies to patients in hospital emergency departments (HEDs), which are often overcrowded and it is difficult to treat patients in the right order without the support of the system. Here, segregation should be done by a specially trained person. The most important thing is that first aid is given to those whose lives are in danger. In this case, patients with loss of consciousness, after falls from a height, patients with multi-organ injuries will be classified as red. Bile patients are primarily hemodynamically stable. It is considered that they can wait up to an hour. Green patients are patients, incl. with minor injuries, coughing or pain that is not acute. Such patients will wait the longest – a minimum of two hours.
Also read:
- How do doctors and paramedics talk to each other? «With us it is a bit like in Patryk Vega’s films»
- Depression – who does it affect and why? How to cure depression? [WE EXPLAIN]
- GPs do not work 24 hours a day. What to do when we need help in the evening or on a holiday?