Activity, triage levels and impact of the pandemic on hospital emergency departments: A multicentre cross-sectional study.
Cristina Font-Cabrera, Maria Eulàlia Juvé-Udina, Jordi Adamuz and 3 others
PMID 39032172WHAT IT FOUND
42.6% of 2,332,654 included adult emergency department patients were triaged level 4 and 10.6% level 5; low-acuity demand did not change during the pandemic, while severe levels rose.
Key findings
01Among 2,332,654 included adult emergency department patients, 42.6% were triage level 4 and 10.6% were level 5.
02In 2020 and 2021, rates were higher for triage levels 1, 2 and 3 than in 2018, while levels 4 and 5 did not rise.
03High-technology hospitals had high percentages of level 4 and 5 patients, especially HT2 (63.61%), HT3 (61.50%) and HT1 (44.30%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Retrospective electronic-record design may have missing or biased information. Descriptive study cannot establish causal relationships between variables. Maternal and obstetric attenders and patients without triage assignment were excluded. Triage accuracy was not measured, and the authors note future work should assess under- or over-triage. Findings come from adult ED attenders in eight public hospitals in Catalonia, Spain, and may not apply to other settings.
Declared interests
Funded by the Official College of Nursing of Barcelona through a 2021 research grant (PR-495/2021); authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the increases in severe triage levels as evidence that low-acuity demand fell. Levels 4 and 5 did not fall, and the study did not test whether those visits were appropriate for another setting.