emergency
Triage
トリアージ (toriāji)
Triage is the medical process of sorting patients by urgency so that the most critically ill receive care first. In Japanese hospital emergency rooms, a triage nurse assesses each patient at the entrance and assigns a color-coded priority level. Patients with minor complaints may wait several hours while critical cases are treated immediately. Understanding how triage works helps foreign residents set realistic expectations about wait times when using Japan's emergency services.
Japan uses a standardized four-level triage system at emergency departments, and disaster triage tags (colored labels) are also used during mass-casualty incidents.
In 9 languages
| Language | Term |
|---|---|
| English | Triage |
| Japanese (日本語) | トリアージ |
| Chinese (中文) | 检伤分类 |
| Korean (한국어) | 중증도 분류 |
| Portuguese | Triagem |
| Spanish | Triaje |
| Filipino | Triage |
| Thai | การคัดแยกผู้ป่วย |
| Vietnamese | Phân loại bệnh nhân |
| Romanization | toriāji |
Learn more in the guide:
Read the guide →Last reviewed: September 2026