Comparative Analysis of Simple Clinical Assessment vs. Systematic Triage to Decrease the Length of Stay in Emergency Medicine
Author(s): Irfan Siddiqui*, Inayat Ali khan and Bella Virk
Abstract
Objective: Comparison of effectiveness of eyeball triage and Canadian triage and acuity scale (CTAS) in decreasing time of assessment and length of patients stay in emergency of hospital. Methods: A quasi experimental research on ninety-two patients of age ≥ 18 years presented with general complaints in emergency department were carried out at Ziauddin University Hospital Karachi. Consecutive patients were selected for seven months period from June-December 2020 and randomly distributed into two equal groups (forty-six patients in each group) of eyeball triage and CTAS triage. Patients of both groups were evaluated with respective triage and researcher note down the level of triage, time required for triage, patient’s management, and their stay in emergency. Results: In evaluated patient, majority of them were in level II 28 (60.9%) and 22 (47.8%) followed by level III 14 (30.4%) and 17 (37.0%) and level IV 4 (8.7%) and 7 (15.2%) in eyeball and CTAS triage group respectively. Time required for completion of triage was significantly different in triage level of both groups i.e., 1.3 ± 0.5 and 2.4 ± 1.6 minutes (p=0.001*). Majority of the patients were admitted in emergency 20 (43.5%) and 18 (39.1%) followed by 11 (23.9%) and 17 (37.0%) patients who were discharged with medication and follow-up advice in eyeball and CTAS triage group respectively with significantly different length of stay i.e., 75.3 ± 53.5 and 98.4 ± 51.8 minutes (p=0.039*). Conclusion: Eyeball triage is more simple, effective, and rapid system of clinical assessment than CTAS that significantly decreased the time of patient’s assessment and patient’s stay in emergency.