Background
The triage system is a systematic approach to organize priority of treatment amongst patients attending emergency departments (EDs). A variety of triage systems are implemented in different hospitals with consideration of local settings such as available resources, patient capacity of each ED. The more popular triage systems with high reported validity and reliability rates in children include the Pediatric Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (PaedCTAS) and the Pediatric South African Triage Scale (P-SATS).
Aim
Improve the management in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED), Suez Canal University Hospital by applying a valid and reliable triage system.
Patients and Methods
This study was conducted as a prospective cohort, single-center study to determine the validity of PaedCTAS and P-SATS. The two triage systems were conducted by the researcher through a data collection sheet. The primary outcome measure to be analyzed was the proportion of hospitalization. Secondary outcomes to be analyzed was the percentage of patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), the length of stay (LOS) in the PED ( Results
PaedCTAS was slightly more accurate than P-SATS for triaging the patients attending the Pediatric Emergency Department, Suez Canal University Hospital as PaedCTAS performed better than P-SATS in prediction of PICU admission, LOS and mortality. However, regarding the prediction of admission P-SATS performed better.
Conclusion
Both paedCTAS and P-SATS are valid triage tools for patients attending the Pediatric Emergency Department, Suez Canal University Hospital with paedCTAS being slightly more accurate than P-SATS.