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[Triage criteria in a emergency department]
A Concheiro Guisán1, E Díaz González, C Luaces Cubells
1Sección de Urgencias. Servicio de Pediatría. Unidad Integrada Hospital Sant Joan de Déu-Hospital Clínic. Universidad de Barcelona.
Insights
Establishing specific triage criteria effectively identifies high-risk children in busy paediatric emergency departments, optimizing resource allocation and improving patient care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Healthcare Management
- Clinical Triage Systems
Context:
- Paediatric emergency departments face increasing patient volumes.
- Accurate and efficient patient triage is crucial for identifying seriously ill children.
- Existing triage systems require evaluation for optimization.
Purpose:
- To establish and evaluate a set of triage criteria for selecting high-risk children in a paediatric emergency department.
- To assess the effectiveness of defined criteria in identifying potentially seriously ill patients.
- To determine if the defined criteria optimize human resource utilization.
Summary:
- A triage system was implemented in a paediatric emergency department over 20 peak-flow days.
- 513 patients (11% of total admissions) met the criteria, with dyspnea, physician referral, fever/rash, and young age being common indicators.
- The system proved effective, comparable to other triage methods, and aided in optimizing staff resources.
Impact:
- The defined triage criteria effectively identify high-risk pediatric patients.
- This system allows for better management of resources in demanding emergency department settings.
- The approach demonstrates potential for improving efficiency and patient outcomes in paediatric emergency care.
Objective:
Accurate patient triage for the early identification of potentially seriously ill or high-risk children is needed due to the increasing demands made on paediatric emergency departments.
Material And Methods:
A set of triage criteria for patient selection was established. Between October 1998 and April 1999 we selected 20 days with maximum patient flow in our emergency department (average 225 children/day). Patients who satisfied the triage criteria were selected. The following variables were studied: age, sex, triage criteria, waiting time, visit time and final diagnosis.
Results:
Five hundred and thirteen patients satisfied our triage criteria (11% of patients admitted to the emergency department). Median age was 3.4 years. The most frequent complaints (criteria) were dyspnea (36.4%), referral to the emergency department by another physician (29%), fever and rash (11.7%) and age under 1 month (5.8%). The most common causes of patient referral to hospital were acute abdominal pain and fever (31% each). Waiting and visit times were 29 and 55 minutes, respectively.
Conclusion:
Definition of selection criteria seems effective and equivalent to other triage systems and allows optimization of human resources.
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