Emergency Priority Rules
In Emergency Care, priority is not based on “first come, first served” but on the severity of the condition.
FV Hospital’s Emergency Heart Care Process
Max Wait Time: Immediate
Immediately life-threatening
Conditions that are threats to life for imminent risk of deterioration and require immediate aggressive intervention.
Max Wait Time: < 10 min
ATS 2 – Imminently life-threatening, important time-critical treatment
The patient’s condition is serious enough or deteriorating so rapidly that there is the potential of threat to life, or organ system failure, if not treated within 10 minutes of arrival.
Max Wait Time: < 30 min
ATS 3 – Potentially life-threatening, situational urgency
The patient’s condition may progress to life or limb threatening, or may lead to significant morbidity, if assessment and treatment are not commenced within 30 minutes of arrival.
Max Wait Time: < 45 min
ATS 4 – Potentially serious
The patient’s condition may deteriorate, or adverse outcome may result, if assessment and treatment is not commenced within 1 hour of arrival in ED. Symptoms moderate or prolonged.
Max Wait Time: < 60 min
Less urgent
The patient’s condition is chronic or minor enough that symptoms or clinical outcome will not be significantly affected if assessment and treatment are delayed up to 2 hours from arrival.
We use the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) to determine treatment priority for patients.
Experienced triage nurses assess each patient’s condition and assign the appropriate urgency level. Patients with life-threatening conditions are always given the highest priority and are treated first by our medical team.
