Development of the Dokuz Eylul University Hospital Adult Emergency Department Triage System and evaluation of its practicability

INTRODUCTION?Emergency medical triage? is sorting of the patients who need emergency care or not,also it calls triage. In our study we developed a new triage system (DETS) in our emergencydepartment and we evaluated the practicability of this system.METHODSOur study is a prospective, cross sectional, descriptive and clinical study. Along onemonth period, we choose prospectively 558 patients with using probabilistic samplingmethod. Before the study, we gave a training program to the triage staffs about DETS. Alongthe study time, all of the patients who referred to the emergency department evaluatedaccording to DETS. Retrospectively, the same patients evaluated by a doctor and the resultsof the doctor accepted as ?true category?. We research admission rate to hospital, lenght ofstay in emergency department, one month mortality in hospital and need for resource toqualify validity.RESULTSPatients evaluated in five categories. We found number of the patients in Level I 7(%1,3), Level II 142 (%26,4), Level III 167 (%31,1), Level IV 166 (%30,9) and Level V 55(%10,2). We assessed two different practice groups (paramedics and doctor) with inter-rateragreement test. Kappa value calculated (0,825). Over-triage was %15,5 (n=83) and undertriagewas %3,7 (n=20). In Level I and II patients, triage staffs sensitivity was %99,3 andspecificity was %96.DISCUSSIONIn our study, reliability of DETS take a place in ?perfect value? for our hospitalemergency department. According to DETS, admission rate to hospital, lenght of stay inemergency department, one month mortality in hospital and need for resource were high inLevel I and II. Finally, we think that DETS is a practicable triage system for adult emergencydepartments.KEY WORDSTriage, reliability, validity.