28Feb 2017

CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDER-TRIAGED PATIENTS WHO GET ADMITTED.

  • Maternity &Children Hospital,Dammam. Saudi Arabia.
  • Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
  • King FahadSpecialist Hospital,Dammam. Saudi Arabia.
  • King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa. Saudi Arabia.
  • Marefa College for Science &Technology(MCST), Riyadh. Saudi Arabia.
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Background: Triage is a key factor to successfully prioritize patients coming to emergency department to identify life-threatening conditions and allocate resources for patients who need immediate management. Under-triage, defined as inappropriate assignment of a low level of severity during triage, is associated with high levels of substantial mortality. the aim is to identify risk factors & common diagnoses of under-triaged patients. Methods: retrospective case-control study based on Canadian Triage & Acuity Scale (CTAS), both groups were initially trained CTAS 4 or 5. The case group includes patients who got admitted and the control group includes patients who were discharged. Sample of 71 patients was collected over 6 months. demographic characteristics, baseline health status, co-morbid diseases, initial complaint, vital signs, pain score and admission & discharge diagnoses. Results: Pain played an important role in the triage decision. Pain-free patients were more likely to be under-triaged (42% of under-triaged patients versus 0% of correctly triaged patients).Conversely, cancer patients were more likely to be under-triaged than non-cancer patients, and this was statistically significant (47% of under-triaged patients had cancer, versus 20% of correctly triaged patients, p 0.023). no statistical difference in average age or gender of under-triaged versus correctly triaged patients. Under-triaged patients were relatively healthier, with less comorbid diseases, although this difference was not statistically significant (44% of under-triaged patients were healthy, versus 26% of correctly triaged patients, p 0.137). Conclusion: Factors that ledto under-triage include being cancer patient and pain-free at presentation. We recommend paying attention to those patients during triage.

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[Mohammed Alabdrab Alnabi, Faisal Ahmad Katbi, Abdullah Ali khunayn, Ghufran Abdullah Alarfaj, Ibrahim Osman, Asma Ali Almaimoni, Rawan Othman Bamousa, Nora Nasser Aljoaib. (2017); CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDER-TRIAGED PATIENTS WHO GET ADMITTED. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 5 (Feb). 2114-2118] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Ghufran AlArfaj
imam Abdulrahman Alfaisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/3384      
DOI URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/3384

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