Editing Triage (section)

=== Undertriage and overtriage ===
'''Undertriage''' is underestimating the severity of an illness or injury.  An example of this would be categorizing a Priority 1 (Immediate) patient as a Priority 2 (Delayed) or Priority 3 (Minimal). The rate of undertriage generally varies by the location of the triage, with a 2014 review of triage practices in emergency rooms finding that in-hospital undertriaging occurred 34% of the time in the United States,<ref name="Xiang-2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Xiang H, Wheeler KK, Groner JI, Shi J, Haley KJ | title = Undertriage of major trauma patients in the US emergency departments | journal = The American Journal of Emergency Medicine | volume = 32 | issue = 9 | pages = 997–1004 | date = September 2014 | pmid = 24993680 | doi = 10.1016/j.ajem.2014.05.038 }}</ref> while reviews of pre-hospital triage finding undertriage rates of 14%.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lokerman RD, Waalwijk JF, van der Sluijs R, Houwert RM, Leenen LP, van Heijl M | title = Evaluating pre-hospital triage and decision-making in patients who died within 30 days post-trauma: A multi-site, multi-center, cohort study | journal = Injury | volume = 53 | issue = 5 | pages = 1699–1706 | date = May 2022 | pmid = 35317915 | doi = 10.1016/j.injury.2022.02.047 | s2cid = 247240059 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

'''Overtriage''' is the overestimating of the severity of an illness or injury.  An example of this would be categorizing a Priority 3 (Minimal) patient as a Priority 2 (Delayed) or Priority 1 (Immediate). Acceptable overtriage rates have been typically up to 50% in an effort to avoid undertriage.  Some studies suggest that overtriage is less likely to occur when triaging is performed by hospital medical teams, rather than paramedics or EMTs.<ref name="Turégano-Fuentes-2008">{{cite journal | vauthors = Turégano-Fuentes F, Pérez-Díaz D, Sanz-Sánchez M, Ortiz Alonso J | title = Overall Asessment of the Response to Terrorist Bombings in Trains, Madrid, 11 March 2004 | journal = European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery | volume = 34 | issue = 5 | pages = 433–441 | date = October 2008 | pmid = 26815987 | doi = 10.1007/s00068-008-8805-2 | s2cid = 13657747 }}</ref>