overtriage
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An inaccurately high prehospital triage value assigned to a set of symptoms or an injury, assessing it as being more severe or traumatic than it truly is; the administrative or societal burden caused by such miscalibration, such as wait times in emergency departments.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To make such a misguided triage assessment.
Example Sentences
- "As emergency medicine doctors, we regularly give medical advice to family and close friends when they get sick or are injured and don't know what to do. In a matter of moments, we triage, diagnose, and assemble a logical plan, whatever the issue may be. […] Frankly, it's a service everyone should have. Think about the potential time and money saved if this option for medical care and triage was broadly available. Overtriage would plummet. That's when people run to the emergency department (ED) and wait endless hours, only to be reassured or receive limited treatment. Undertriage would also decline. That's when people should go to the ED but, unwisely, wait. For example, this may occur when symptoms of dizziness end up being a stroke."
Etymology
From over- + triage.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: over