CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDER-TRIAGED PATIENTS WHO GET ADMITTED.

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.