Tri-age (tre' äzh)- n.

The sorting out of patients, as in battle, to determine priority for treatment.

Welcome to Dear Doc...

This site is meant as an information source on a variety of health-related topics and open to the community at large. It is an opportunity for you to seek out answers to all sorts of health-related questions (rumours, statistics, historical facts...). I'm a young family doc who believes in giving straight answers to all questions (there's no such thing as a bad question!). And every week I will update this site with some of the more interesting questions I've received.

How does it work? TRIAGE

Just as the triage nurse decides which patients are to be seen and in what order (and no one gets through the office doors before s/he says so!), so do you need to decide how to get the information you are seeking.

Six categories of health care have been developed for you to choose from. For example, if you are looking for information specific to adolescent health issues, click on adolescent health, or the picture associated, and you can choose which topics in adolescent health you wish to look at. The choice of all six health categories is found on every page.

For those who love to read, you can also choose to scroll through the list of questions themselves, in alphabetical order, and read answers at random.

At any time, if you wish to ask a question to the doctor, just click on ASK.

Interesting statistics (trivia), references I've used and a disclaimer are also available to you and are self-explanatory.

Dear Doc... strives to make the most information available to the widest audience possible. As such, specific questions about personal situations are not applicable to our service

For specific medical assistance, please see your physician.