Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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This article follows our description of generic qualitative approaches, focusing on the specific designs of ethnography, grounded theory and phenomenology. Distinguishing features are described, including methodological approaches and methods for enhancing rigour. The use of these designs in emergency care is unusual but informative, and important work has been produced. Whether used in a pure or applied manner, it is likely that such approaches will add to our understanding of the emergency world.
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The practice of triage was conceived during the Napoleonic wars, with the aim of salvaging those soldiers whose injuries were readily treatable, returning them to the battlefield at the earliest opportunity. Literally, the word triage means "to sieve" or "to sort" (French trier), and those earlier battlefield principles have been refined and expanded to now encompass trauma and medical emergencies, with triage practiced in prehospital and hospital settings. To address the anatomical, physiological and developmental differences encountered when dealing with children, specific paediatric triage systems have also been developed, and this article discusses their merits.