classification

Classification and Sorting

                I abhor labels.  There is nothing worse than quantifying an individual to suit one’s own small minded need to neatly sort them out with identifiable traits according to someone else’s ideas.  That said, I intend to employ labeling in my daily life in order to perform my duties.  Hypocrite?  Yes, I am.  I will concede that in the situations I will find myself in it will be necessary to sort, evaluate and categorize.  There are four basic groups I will assign to everyone, but for the obvious purpose I will leave out the fourth.  As an Emergency Room nurse I will be performing triage on patients as they arrive into four categories: Minor, Delayed, Major, and Deceased.  I will explain the differences clinically, but there is still an element of judgment involved.

                A Minor casualty is often alert, with minor injuries who is in little danger.  Often called “the walking wounded” these folks are the ones who may actually be called upon to assist in some way if the staff ratio is low.  These are the ones often called “heroes” for their selfless service to others in times of disaster and crisis.  You’ve seen the movies where the guy is bleeding from a gunshot, yet still carries his crippled partner to safety?  That’s them, even if they just fetch water or towels to help, or direct traffic at the scene.  They will be attended to later because they are in no imminent danger.

                The second group, Delayed, require a little more knowledge and skill to label.  This group is usually in some peril, although not immediately life-threatening, and is not able to assist.  These would be the moaning victims lying on a stretcher in the hallway as the handsome doctor in our movie tells the blood soaked hero “we’re out of space here, out of supplies and the victims keep coming in.  Can’t anyone do anything?”  The people on the stretchers continue to moan. The Minor casualty gets some face time as he decides to do something bold.

                The third group is filled with people in serious doo-doo, those who are about to be gone.  These are the ones requiring immediate help to stay alive and are a vast drain on the resources of the young doctor and his nurse.  They would be performing chest compressions while explaining “She’ll die if I can’t get her to a hyperbaric chamber!”  In the background would be a machine with an ominous horizontal red line and an annoying high pitched whine.  Our hero will meet up with his female Minor casualty counterpart and build an armored truck to break through the wall of Zombies, bringing the major casualties with him just as time runs out so they don’t fall into that dreaded Fourth Group.

                In the end, the Delayed group is served by the reinforcements who come and as they are wheeled out with I.V.s in them the doctor says “It’s touch and go, but I think we’re out of the woods.” The Major group wake up and tells their parents they love them, tears streaming down their faces and the Minor group sits in the open back doors of the ambulance, bandaged heads telling us they are lucky to be alive.  The hero is the last to be seen, and he will be “right as rain” in time for the sequel. 

                My mission was to explain triage and the necessity of categorizing.  I believe labeling is necessary in this situation, but we best be careful when we do categorize because it can lead to stereotypes.