01/21/2016
Press Release No. 005, 2016
- The Statutory Law provides timely care and prohibits the denial of health services in case of emergency.
Bogota (DC), January 21, 2016. The Ministry of Health and Social Protection, under the framework of the Statutory Law, established new criteria for the classification of patients in the emergency service called triage. Compliance with this is, and will be, mandatory by health care providers who have enabled this service.
Among the objectives of triage is to ensure a prompt and orderly assessment of all patients coming to the emergency services, identifying those that require immediate care.
This will allow patients to be classified according to clinical priority and thus reduce the risk of death, complications or disability of those receiving these services. Also, it will deliver full information to the patient and family about what their triage classification is, and their waiting times for care.
In that vein, Resolution 5596 of December 24, 2015 of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection stipulated five triage categories, except that the appointed times of care will not apply to emergency or disaster situations with multiple victims, as described below:
Triage I: The patient requires immediate attention. The patient’s condition is life-threatening and needs resuscitation because of a ventilatory, neurological, respiratory or hemodynamic compromise, loss of limb or organ or other conditions requiring immediate care, by law.
Triage II: The patient’s clinical condition can evolve rapidly to deterioration or death, or increase the risk for the loss of a limb or organ, therefore requiring care not to exceed thirty (30) minutes. Extreme pain identified according to the classification system used must be considered as a criterion in this category.
Triage III: The patient’s clinical condition requires diagnostic and therapeutic measures in emergency. These are patients who need further examination or rapid treatment, considering they are stable from a physiological point of view, but their situation may worsen if nothing is done.
Triage IV: The patient has medical conditions that neither compromise the overall state nor represent an obvious risk to life or loss of limb or organ. However, there are risks of complications or consequences of the illness or injury if the patient does not receive appropriate care.
Triage V: The patient has a medical condition related to acute or chronic problems without evidence of weakening that could compromise the general condition of the patient and does not represent an obvious risk to life, or limb or organ functionality.
