Pat Overton-Brown, Joanne Higgins, Pam Bridge and Matthew Cooke look at the role and function of triage nurses

Nurse triage is not a new concept in the United Kingdom. The use of triage first began to gain momentum in this country in the 1980s following developments in emergency care in the United States (Edwards 1999). The origins of the word ‘triage’ can be found in the French word ‘trier’ meaning to pick, sort or select. Historically, the term developed for military purposes to determine salvageable casualties during the Napoleonic wars. Whilst triage is still used for military purposes and disaster planning, the process within accident and emergency (A&E) fulfils a separate function and refers to the assessment and classification of urgency of the patients’ need for treatment on arrival to the accident and emergency department. The triage nurse usually undertakes this process.