A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit
Background: Overcrowding is a global problem in emergency medicine. This study examined an approach to this problem at a central hospital. Methods: A prospective observational study was done to provide a cross-sectional profile of patients triaged away from the emergency unit (EU) and to evaluate t...
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| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2015-05-01
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| Series: | South African Family Practice |
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| Online Access: | https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4166 |
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| author | Andreas Engelbrecht F. G. du Toit M. M. Geyser |
| author_facet | Andreas Engelbrecht F. G. du Toit M. M. Geyser |
| author_sort | Andreas Engelbrecht |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Overcrowding is a global problem in emergency medicine. This study examined an approach to this problem at a central hospital.
Methods: A prospective observational study was done to provide a cross-sectional profile of patients triaged away from the emergency unit (EU) and to evaluate their outcome by telephonic survey.
Results: 549 patients were triaged away during the study period. There was no significant difference in the number of male and female patients in the sample. Female patients were significantly younger than males ( p = 0.0399). The most common complaint was abdominal pain followed by extremity complaints. Females complained more of abdominal pains (OR 1.87, 95% CI [1.13–3.12]; p 0.0094), and males had more extremity complaints (OR 2.42, 95% CI [1.45–4.09]; p = 0.0003). Only 42 patients were available for telephonic follow-up; 66% of them received care on the same day at another treatment facility. No patients who were available for follow-up had died due to their presenting complaint or needed to be referred back.
Conclusions: The typical patient triaged away was a 40-year-old female from the hospital’s referral area with abdominal pain. This study indicated that the method of triage may be safe to determine which patients can be diverted from a central hospital to a lower level of care. There were various limitations to this study; hence, the findings of this study should be interpreted with caution. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a4f6d3c2580f48dbabef5dd5bf0ca5dc |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2078-6190 2078-6204 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Family Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-a4f6d3c2580f48dbabef5dd5bf0ca5dc2025-08-20T03:06:54ZengAOSISSouth African Family Practice2078-61902078-62042015-05-0157310.4102/safp.v57i3.41663503A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unitAndreas Engelbrecht0F. G. du Toit1M. M. Geyser2Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, Steve Biko Academic Hospital, PretoriaEmergency Department, Kloof Hosptital, PretoriaFaculty of Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine, University of Pretoria, and Head Emergency Unit, Kalafong Hospital, PretoriaBackground: Overcrowding is a global problem in emergency medicine. This study examined an approach to this problem at a central hospital. Methods: A prospective observational study was done to provide a cross-sectional profile of patients triaged away from the emergency unit (EU) and to evaluate their outcome by telephonic survey. Results: 549 patients were triaged away during the study period. There was no significant difference in the number of male and female patients in the sample. Female patients were significantly younger than males ( p = 0.0399). The most common complaint was abdominal pain followed by extremity complaints. Females complained more of abdominal pains (OR 1.87, 95% CI [1.13–3.12]; p 0.0094), and males had more extremity complaints (OR 2.42, 95% CI [1.45–4.09]; p = 0.0003). Only 42 patients were available for telephonic follow-up; 66% of them received care on the same day at another treatment facility. No patients who were available for follow-up had died due to their presenting complaint or needed to be referred back. Conclusions: The typical patient triaged away was a 40-year-old female from the hospital’s referral area with abdominal pain. This study indicated that the method of triage may be safe to determine which patients can be diverted from a central hospital to a lower level of care. There were various limitations to this study; hence, the findings of this study should be interpreted with caution.https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4166emergency unit (eu)medical early warning score (mews)south african triage scale (sats)triage |
| spellingShingle | Andreas Engelbrecht F. G. du Toit M. M. Geyser A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit South African Family Practice emergency unit (eu) medical early warning score (mews) south african triage scale (sats) triage |
| title | A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit |
| title_full | A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit |
| title_fullStr | A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit |
| title_full_unstemmed | A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit |
| title_short | A cross-sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from Steve Biko Academic Hospital emergency unit |
| title_sort | cross sectional profile and outcome assessment of adult patients triaged away from steve biko academic hospital emergency unit |
| topic | emergency unit (eu) medical early warning score (mews) south african triage scale (sats) triage |
| url | https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4166 |
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