Efficacy of the Manchester Triage System: a systematic review

The growing number of patients in emergency departments can lead to overcrowding, often adding to organisational problems. Triage aims to predict the severity of disease, with the aim of organising patient flow. The aim of this study was to analyse the efficacy of the Manchester Triage System (MTS) for risk classification of patients.

A systematic review of the literature in Ebscohost, Pubmed and Scielo (2002-2013) was undertaken. Articles were selected independently by two researchers using selection criteria. Twenty-two articles were selected for inclusion in this review.

The results support the applicability of the MTS, which has proven validity for use in children, adults, patients with coronary syndrome and patients with acute pulmonary embolism. The MTS was found to be inclusive, and to predict emergency department admission and death in the short term.

The majority of studies found that the MTS was useful in triage of patients in emergency departments, but sub-triage and super-triage (i.e. under and over classification of severity, respectively) still occur.