👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-08-23🏷️ Management of Care🔖 Free to read, print, and share
Also known as: triage · prioritizing patients · who do you see first · ABC priority
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Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Triage and Prioritization on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
📌 Order
Airway → Breathing → Circulation
Acute/unstable before chronic/stable
Physiologic before psychosocial
📌 Er Tags
Red = immediate, life threat
Yellow = delayed, urgent
Green = minor, walking wounded
Black = expectant/deceased
📌 See First
New/unexpected → see first
Expected/improving → see later
📚 Triage and Prioritization — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what must be reported, and what to teach.
Triage and prioritization decide the order in which patients are assessed and treated when resources are limited. In daily care, prioritize by ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation), then by Maslow's hierarchy (physiologic before psychosocial), then actual over potential problems and unstable over stable patients. In mass-casualty disaster triage, the goal shifts to the greatest good for the greatest number, using color-coded tags.
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Key points
Understand these first
Daily prioritization follows ABCs first: a patient with an airway or breathing problem is always seen before one with a circulation or lower-priority issue.
Maslow's hierarchy ranks physiologic needs above safety, and safety above love/belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.
Actual problems and unstable patients generally take priority over potential problems and stable patients, and unexpected findings over expected ones.
In standard ED triage (emergent/urgent/non-urgent), life-threatening conditions are emergent and seen immediately.
Disaster (mass-casualty) triage reverses everyday logic: resources go to those most likely to survive, so expectant/non-salvageable patients are deprioritized.
START tags: red = immediate life threat but salvageable, yellow = delayed/can wait, green = minor/walking wounded, black = expectant/deceased.
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Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Assess airway, breathing, and circulation first and treat the most immediately life-threatening problem.
Compare patients by stability: see the unstable, deteriorating, or newly symptomatic patient before the stable one.
Weigh actual versus potential problems and apply Maslow when no immediate ABC threat distinguishes patients.
In a mass-casualty event, apply START principles and tag by survivability to save the most lives, not the sickest.
Reassess continuously, as triage status changes when a patient's condition changes.
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Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
A compromised or threatened airway always outranks all other findings; address it first.
Sudden change such as new chest pain, dyspnea, decreased level of consciousness, or active hemorrhage moves a patient to immediate priority.
In a disaster, do not expend scarce resources on an expectant (black-tag) patient at the expense of salvageable red-tag patients.
Never deprioritize a deteriorating or unstable patient in favor of a stable one with a chronic complaint.
❓ Triage and Prioritization: NCLEX FAQs
What are the priority nursing interventions for Triage and Prioritization?
Assess airway, breathing, and circulation first and treat the most immediately life-threatening problem. Compare patients by stability: see the unstable, deteriorating, or newly symptomatic patient before the stable one. Weigh actual versus potential problems and apply Maslow when no immediate ABC threat distinguishes patients. In a mass-casualty event, apply START principles and tag by survivability to save the most lives, not the sickest.
What are the warning signs of Triage and Prioritization a nurse must report?
A compromised or threatened airway always outranks all other findings; address it first. Sudden change such as new chest pain, dyspnea, decreased level of consciousness, or active hemorrhage moves a patient to immediate priority. In a disaster, do not expend scarce resources on an expectant (black-tag) patient at the expense of salvageable red-tag patients. Never deprioritize a deteriorating or unstable patient in favor of a stable one with a chronic complaint.
What do I need to know about Triage and Prioritization for the NCLEX?
Daily prioritization follows ABCs first: a patient with an airway or breathing problem is always seen before one with a circulation or lower-priority issue. Maslow's hierarchy ranks physiologic needs above safety, and safety above love/belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Actual problems and unstable patients generally take priority over potential problems and stable patients, and unexpected findings over expected ones. In standard ED triage (emergent/urgent/non-urgent), life-threatening conditions are emergent and seen immediately.
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Quick Tip
Daily prioritization follows ABCs first: a patient with an airway or breathing problem is always seen before one with a circulation or lower-priority issue.