Usually, an animal hospital is a place where diagnostics and surgical treatments tend to take place, whereas a veterinary clinic is a facility that focuses on providing prevention, cures for simple illnesses, and alleviation of diseases through vaccination and other preventative treatments.

The word triage is derived from the French word trier, which means to sort. ¹. In veterinary medicine, triage involves assessing each patient's condition on arrival to determine which patients need immediate medical attention.