In hospital emergency departments, triage is done by a specialised triage nurse as soon as possible after a patient arrives. Patients are allocated a triage category based on the time in which they need medical attention.
Most NSW public hospitals use a triage scale for patients presenting to emergency and aim to achieve certain levels of performance with respect to the amount of time patients wait to be seen.
People who need to have treatment immediately or within two minutes are categorised as having an immediately life-threatening condition.
People in this category have the most serious and life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest (heart attack) or severe injuries.
People who need to have treatment within 10 minutes are categorised as having an imminently life-threatening condition.
People in this category could be suffering from severe chest pains, difficulty in breathing or severe fractures.
People who need to have treatment within 30 minutes are categorised as having a potentially life-threatening condition.
People in this category could have moderately severe pain requiring strong pain relief, heavy bleeding from cuts, major fractures or are severely dehydrated.
People who need to have treatment within one hour are categorised as having a potentially serious condition.
People in this category could be vomiting or have diarrhoea without dehydration, eye inflammation, a foreign body in their eye or minor limb trauma.
People who need to have treatment within two hours are categorised as having a less urgent condition.
People in this category may have minor illnesses or symptoms such as rashes or minor aches and pains that could also be managed by other health providers.