[Creation and evaluation of a triage survey for ophthalmology emergencies]

The demand for eye care is growing continuously. We created a triage survey system, based on categories of severity, to optimize first line patient care in an ophthalmology emergency department.

This cross-sectional study was carried out from July 7th, 2021 to October 10th, 2021. During this period, a survey was taken by patients upon arrival to the emergency department. Patients completed the survey by ticking boxes that best fitted their situation. The survey classified patients into three categories of severity: GREEN, ORANGE and RED. A chart review was performed to record the final diagnoses. The severity of each diagnosis was rated according to the Base Score. This score was then compared to the level of severity as determined by our survey to calculate the agreement between the two methods.

We collected 767 survey forms, with an 80% response rate. We noted 78 different diagnoses. We scored 564 patients as GREEN, 107 as ORANGE and 96 as RED. The sensitivity rates for the green, orange and red categories were 90%, 70% and 96% respectively. The specificity rates were 90% for the green category, 95% for orange and 94% for red, with good agreement (kappa coefficient=0.70).

Our results suggest that a self-administered survey could be useful as a triage tool for common ocular emergencies. This survey could be performed better if complete by the patients with the assistance of emergency staff. Potentially helpful for high flow structures such as university-based hospitals, this triage survey might also help in comprehensive clinics or emergency departments.