Emergency Room Triage Levels
The triage process was initiated by the military to sort the severity of soldiers' injuries. Today, triage nurses follow a five-level system used in many hospitals in the United States. The five-level triage system uses the Emergency Severity Index to determine a patient's needs.
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Level One
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These five triage levels are categorized as emergency, urgent and nonurgent. Level One patients require immediate physical evaluation and treatment by a physician. High-risk conditions such as severe trauma, head fractures, respiratory distress and other life-threatening conditions are classified as level one.
Level Two
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Algorithms are used by triage nurses to help assess the patient's distress. Also seen as acute distress, level two patients have time-sensitive complaints such as stroke symptoms and chest pains. Triage nurses dispatch these patients to emergency beds, where nurses administer resources, such as intravenous fluids or oxygen, before a physician sees the patient.
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Level Three
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The five-level triage system is standard in the United Kingdom and Canada. Though considered urgent, level three patients have less acute conditions. Level three patients require two resources, determined through vital signs taken during triage intake. Less severe psychiatric conditions and pregnant women going into labor are classified as level three.
Level Four
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The radiology department handles X-rays. One resource is required for level four care, as determined by the triage nurse. A fracture with severe pain is a condition that is categorized as level four, because an X-ray is the only resource required for care.
Level Five
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Symptoms such as runny nose and low-grade fevers fall under level five triage care. No resources are required for level five classification. Conditions such as fevers and common cold symptoms fall under this category, and level five patients are treated and discharged quickly.
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