Novel Application of a Reverse Triage Protocol Providing Increased Access to Care in an Outpatient, Primary Care...

As the number of patients with access to care increases, outpatient clinics will need to implement innovative strategies to maintain or enhance clinic efficiency. One viable alternative involves reverse triage.

A reverse triage protocol was implemented during a student-run free clinic. Each patient's chief complaint(s) were obtained at the beginning of the clinic session and ranked by increasing complexity. "Complexity" was defined as the subjective amount of time required to provide a full, thorough evaluation of a patient. Less complex cases were prioritized first since they could be expedited through clinic processing and allow for more time and resources to be dedicated to complex cases. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize and summarize the data obtained. Categorical variables were analyzed using chi-square. A time series analysis of the outcome versus centered time in weeks was also conducted.

The average number of patients seen per clinic session increased by 35% (9.5 versus 12.8) from pre-implementation of the reverse triage protocol to 6 months after the implementation of the protocol.

The implementation of a reverse triage in an outpatient setting significantly increased clinic efficiency as noted by a significant increase in the number of patients seen during a clinic session.