When you go to the emergency room or when you bring your pet to the emergency hospital, a common term that is heard or used is "triage". This is a very important concept that may help you understand your visit to Valley Central Emergency.
According to Webster's dictionary, triage is:
1a : the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors
b : the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care
This concept was originally designed for treating the wounded on a battlefield where the wounded need to be categorized based on severity of injury and urgency of the care required.
In the emergency veterinary hospital, including Valley Central, we often need to use a similar system. When your pet first arrives, a nurse is usually called to triage your pet. Nurses are trained and have experience with a large variety of illnesses of cats, dogs and other family friends and provide an intitial evaluation to determine if your pet needs to take priority over other patients that may be waiting.
If the nurse is concerned that immediate care or evaluation by a doctor is needed right away, they will ask if it is ok to bring your pet to our treatment area. Some of the things a nurse will look for are severe pain, shock, bleeding, seizures, severely elevated or low heart rate, trouble breathing or pale mucous membranes (gums).
People sometimes get frustrated when they see another patient taking priority over theirs and being treated first. This only occurs when the arriving pet is in need of immediate care due to its illness or trauma that may have occurred.
A classic example of this is if your dog or cat that has vomited a few times but is otherwise bright and alert. You are about to see a doctor when a cat or dog comes in that is having trouble breathing and needs life saving care immediately. Sometimes, these pets are minutes away from dying if they don't receive oxygen and other medications. We have to prioritize the order of patients seen based on urgency of needed care and not just on the time someone has been waiting.
We would love to examine and begin treatment on everyone's pet immediately upon arrival at Valley Central because all of our patients are important. Sometimes many emergencies will arrive within a very short time frame and we have to consider which of these pets is in need of immediate care due to the concept of treating the most serious or life-threatening illnesses first (traige).
I hope this brief overview of triage helps you better understand the system we have for caring for your pet during it's time of need.
According to Webster's dictionary, triage is:
1a : the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors
b : the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care
This concept was originally designed for treating the wounded on a battlefield where the wounded need to be categorized based on severity of injury and urgency of the care required.
In the emergency veterinary hospital, including Valley Central, we often need to use a similar system. When your pet first arrives, a nurse is usually called to triage your pet. Nurses are trained and have experience with a large variety of illnesses of cats, dogs and other family friends and provide an intitial evaluation to determine if your pet needs to take priority over other patients that may be waiting.
If the nurse is concerned that immediate care or evaluation by a doctor is needed right away, they will ask if it is ok to bring your pet to our treatment area. Some of the things a nurse will look for are severe pain, shock, bleeding, seizures, severely elevated or low heart rate, trouble breathing or pale mucous membranes (gums).
People sometimes get frustrated when they see another patient taking priority over theirs and being treated first. This only occurs when the arriving pet is in need of immediate care due to its illness or trauma that may have occurred.
A classic example of this is if your dog or cat that has vomited a few times but is otherwise bright and alert. You are about to see a doctor when a cat or dog comes in that is having trouble breathing and needs life saving care immediately. Sometimes, these pets are minutes away from dying if they don't receive oxygen and other medications. We have to prioritize the order of patients seen based on urgency of needed care and not just on the time someone has been waiting.
We would love to examine and begin treatment on everyone's pet immediately upon arrival at Valley Central because all of our patients are important. Sometimes many emergencies will arrive within a very short time frame and we have to consider which of these pets is in need of immediate care due to the concept of treating the most serious or life-threatening illnesses first (traige).
I hope this brief overview of triage helps you better understand the system we have for caring for your pet during it's time of need.
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