Effectiveness of the triage system in a private emergency service: Cohort study

Abstract

Background: The overcrowding of emergency services is a worldwide phenomenon. This makes it essential that the triage systems used are effective in identifying priority care. However, little is known about the effectiveness of triage systems in emergency services, especially in the supplementary health network in Brazil. Objective: Identify the effectiveness of the triage system in a private emergency department, based on the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale. Methods: A retrospective cohort study, with 254,730 records of care, between 2017 and 2018, from a private emergency service, reference in high complexity medicine, in São Paulo (SP), Brazil. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the attendances, according to year, gender, age, priority rating, and post-acute clinical outcome. Association between the scale priority grades and clinical outcomes was verified by Pearson's chi-square test. To analyze the effectiveness of the screening system, a univariate logistic regression model was designed to predict the outcome "hospitalizations/hospitalizations" compared to "discharges". Due to the robust sample size, the significance level considered was 0.1%. Results: About 60% of the cases were classified as non-urgent and 30.8% as urgent. The probability of death and hospitalization corresponded to the increased degree of priority, ranging from more than 12 times for the "semi-urgent" attendances to more than 100 times for the "emergency" degree. Patients seen in 2018, male and over 50 years old, were more likely to be hospitalized or die. Conclusion: The screening system analyzed was considered effective in predicting clinical outcomes compatible with the established severity gradation. This is relevant as it expresses, for the first time in Brazil, the effectiveness of a triage system based on the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale. Moreover, the characterization of the expressive search for low severity care among users of the analyzed service is similar to those presented in several national and international studies. Reflections on sociocultural and economic explanations in the Brazilian context are made, exposing perspectives to be achieved by public policies.