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Triage
From the French word meaning "sorting," triage is the process of screening patients to determine the nature and urgency of their medical condition and assign treatment priorities. The practice is most common in emergency situations, but may also be useful in other areas of acute care. [See: Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 16th Edition, ed. Clayton L. Thomas (Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, 1989).] In its original usage concerning the assignment of priorities given to the wounded on the battlefield, the term invariably entailed utilitarian standards that assigned priority in such a way that would foster the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals, e.g., those priorities that preserved military strength. In the context of contemporary medical care, the setting of priorities should not emphasize such utilitarian considerations, particularly in conditions of scarcity or emergencies, though medical utility might play a central role. Otherwise, utilitarian considerations characteristic of the original understanding of triage may dominate priority setting that is more properly approached in terms of human dignity, distributive justice and the common good. [See also: Gerald R. Winslow, "Triage," in Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. Warren Thomas Reich (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995).]
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