PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - J M Sandell AU - I K Maconochie AU - F Jewkes TI - Prehospital paediatric emergency care: paediatric triage AID - 10.1136/emj.2008.061556 DP - 2009 Nov 01 TA - Emergency Medicine Journal PG - 767--768 VI - 26 IP - 11 4099 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/26/11/767.short 4100 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/26/11/767.full SO - Emerg Med J2009 Nov 01; 26 AB - 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.