Community medicine. Triage-a new look at an old French concept

Triage involves making judgments as to type and extent of injury. It is begun at the scene of any injury or whenever a patient enters into a health care system. Subsequently, each patient is reevaluated at different stages of care. In recent years a number of mathematical models have been developed to describe patients with multiple injuries, to evaluate emergency care, and to predict the outcome of trauma. While these grading indexes clearly are not flawless, they are helpful tools in determining priority of care.