An integrated computerized triage system in the emergency department

Emergency department (ED) triage is a fast-paced process that prioritizes the allocation of limited health care resources to patients in greatest need. This paper describes the experiences with an integrated, computerized triage application. The system exchanges information with other information systems, including the ED patient tracking board, the longitudinal electronic medical record, the computerized provider order entry, and the medi-cation reconciliation application. The application includes decision support capabilities such as assessing the patients acuity level, age-dependent alerts for vital signs, and clinical reminders. The browser-based system utilizes the institutions controlled vocabulary, improves data completeness and quality, such as compliance with capturing required data elements and screening questions, initiates clinical processes, such as pneumococcal vaccination ordering, and reminders to start clinical pathways, issues alerts for clinical trial eligibility, and facilitates various reporting needs. The system has supported the triage documentation of >140,000 pediatric and adult patients.