Emergency Triage — Patient Classification and Prioritization

What Is Emergency Triage?

Emergency Triage is a systematic process for classifying and prioritizing patients arriving at the emergency department based on the severity of their clinical condition. International systems such as the ESI (Emergency Severity Index), the Manchester Triage System, and the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale provide standardized scales that assign priority levels to determine the order of care.

The triage module in a HIS digitizes this process: structured assessment through clinical forms, automatic priority assignment based on configurable protocols, timestamp recording, and waiting time tracking. This transforms a traditionally manual and subjective process into a systematic, traceable, and measurable one.

Systems such as Epic (ASAP ER) and Oracle (FirstNet) have dedicated emergency modules. These modules reduce overcrowding, improve response times, and provide real-time visibility of each patient's status in the emergency department, from arrival to final disposition.

Why It Matters in Healthcare

• Objective prioritization: standardized protocols (ESI, Manchester) reduce subjectivity in classification and ensure the most critical patients are seen first.
• Reduced wait times: digital time tracking enables identifying and resolving bottlenecks in the emergency flow.
• Full traceability: every triage assessment is recorded with timestamps, responsible staff, and applied criteria.
• Real-time dashboards: visibility into each patient's status, wait time, and emergency department occupancy.
• Clinical integration: triage information feeds the electronic health record and the ADT workflow.
• Regulatory compliance: documents adherence to emergency care protocols required by health authorities.

How Davix Relates to Emergency Triage

• The Davix HIS includes an emergency module with configurable triage protocols tailored to each institution's needs.
• It provides real-time waiting dashboards showing the status and priority of each emergency patient.
• It integrates with the complete clinical workflow: from triage to final disposition (discharge, admission, or transfer).
• It supports multiple triage scales (ESI, Manchester, and others) configurable by site.
• The cloud-native architecture enables real-time access from any point in the emergency department.

Discover how Davix HIS improves efficiency and safety in your emergency department.