The Proper Use of the Word "Triage"?

[Jay2910]

Hey everyone,

I have questions about how to properly use the word "triage":

Suppose a physician has to deal with a large community of patients:

Would it be safe to say that doctors "triage the patients into groups so that they can get the treatment"( in which triage takes on a meaning similar to categorizing/sorting)?

Or just that they "triage the patients so that they get the treatment "?

I know that triage means that you are prioritizing the patients according to the severity of the wounds.
Can you triage a patient 2x? Like once into a group and then again into a room for treatment? Or do you say that you "categorize" a person into a group? and then triage them?

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[darkjedi]

Triage is as you said, meant to prioritize patients for treatment. It's effectively like prioritizing/placing them in a line. In your context, it would be synonymous with "prioritize" and used in a sentence similarly.

 

[mehc012]

Triage is as you said, meant to prioritize patients for treatment. It's effectively like prioritizing/placing them in a line. In your context, it would be synonymous with "prioritize" and used in a sentence similarly.

It also, at least where I work, implies a certain level of rapid assessment/info gathering.

 

[LMBLBM]

I am gonna triage you tonight.
Thanks, but please don't triage me.
I was triaged on my 18th birthday.

I loved doing triage with my gloved hands.
She deserves triage now.
Whether you like it or not, here comes triage.

I was an els student

 

[supersoaker]

Triage means "to sort", though "to triage patients into groups" may be a little redundant (generally assumed to be sorted into priority groups). I kinda disagree with triage being synonymous with prioritize as some of the patients triaged will be deemed less urgent than others.

Triage is continuous as patients may be moved up and down in priority as their condition changes (so they can be triaged more than once).

 

[slopes23]

Triage means "to sort", though "to triage patients into groups" may be a little redundant (generally assumed to be sorted into priority groups). I kinda disagree with triage being synonymous with prioritize as some of the patients triaged will be deemed less urgent than others.

Triage is continuous as patients may be moved up and down in priority as their condition changes (so they can be triaged more than once).

Just so you know. To prioritize does not necessarily imply to raise someone's priority... It simply means to appropriately place them on your priority list either high or low. So to use it interchangeably with prioritize for OP's purposes is perfectly acceptable.

Advice to OP, even if you could use the word triage twice nuancing the meaning, don't. It's poor form to use the same distinct word over again in the same paragraph. Makes it feel as if your vocabulary is limited and you are stoked to have learned this new word. Instead think about what you want to say for triage on the second sentence and show a breadth of vocabulary and grammar.

 

[supersoaker]

You are correct, and I do understand the use of prioritize in that context. It's just since it does have the other meaning of placing increased importance that I am hesitant as using it as an equal synonym. Prioritize could be misread depending on the wording while triage doesn't have quite the same dual meaning. (hence 'kinda' disagree)