Trusted Emergency Room Triage in Central California
The meaning of triage is “to sort or sift.” In the medical sense, triage is a system of collecting patient information and prioritizing patient care. At Dignity Health Central California, our emergency room personnel use a five-tiered triage system to rank the urgency of patient needs into the following categories:
- Immediate life-saving intervention is necessary
- High-risk situations
- Urgent
- Semi-urgent
- Non-urgent
Our emergency services staff provides unparalleled care, including timely triage, in Central California. Call 911 or visit a Dignity Health Central California emergency room for a medical problem that needs immediate attention.
Why Medical Triage is Necessary
The goal of our emergency services departments is to provide care for the most serious medical problems first. Because the resources of any emergency room are limited, it is necessary to identify patients who need help right away and those who can wait. It is important to keep in mind that someone with a life-threatening condition may need care more urgently.
Triage at Dignity Health Central California
The triage system guides your emergency room experience. First, a triage nurse asks questions and gathers information about your condition or injury. A check of your vital signs, such as temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure, is next. This information allows the triage team to determine the urgency of your situation and the order in which you receive care.
Be sure to notify the triage nurse or a patient registration coordinator right away if your symptoms become worse while waiting.
After your initial triage assessment, a Dignity Health Central California doctor, nurse, or another health care provider will perform a full medical evaluation. After your condition is accurately diagnosed, we’ll provide personalized treatment. Recovery from your emergency room visit depends on the severity of your medical condition and the specific treatment you receive.
Our emergency services are available any time you need — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If your condition is not life threatening, use our InQuicker tool to let us know your estimated arrival time, and wait at home instead of the hospital.
Dignity Health Central California emergency services deliver life-saving treatments, accurate diagnoses, and prompt triage in Bakersfield, Merced, San Andreas, and Stockton, CA.