Triage (noun)

1. The process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition.
2. The sorting of patients based on the urgency of their needs for medical treatment.

Origin:

From french trier, meaning to sort, from old french trier ("to pick out, separate, sift") and later used in the context of medical care in the first world war, from the verb trier ("to sor.t")

Examples:

1. The emergency room used triage to determine which patients needed to be seen first.
2. The triage nurse assessed the patients and determined the order in which they would be treated.
3. The triage system was implemented to ensure that the most critically ill patients received immediate attention.
4. The triage process was essential in a disaster scenario where many people are injured.
5. The triage helped to prioritize patients and ensure that the most serious cases were treated first.