The Predictive Validity of the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS)

BACKGROUND: The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) has been shown, in various emergency department studies, to have good reliability. No studies to date have assessed the association between CTAS level and outcomes such as utilization and patient disposition. OBJECTIVE: To establish the predict...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academic emergency medicine 2003-05, Vol.10 (5), p.512-512
Main Author: Stenstrom, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) has been shown, in various emergency department studies, to have good reliability. No studies to date have assessed the association between CTAS level and outcomes such as utilization and patient disposition. OBJECTIVE: To establish the predictive validity of the CTAS in relation to patient disposition, ED length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS (for admitted patients) and utilization (lab tests and imaging) based on a large administrative dataset. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at St. Paul's Hospital, a Canadian tertiary care institution with 45,000 visits yearly. On arrival to the ED, all patients are assigned a CTAS level (from 1 to 5) by the triage nurse. ED LOS, hospital LOS, and patient disposition, were assessed for over 70,000 patient visits between October 2000 and October 2002. As a proxy for utilization, the proportion of patients having any imaging (CT scan, ultrasound, X-ray) or a complete blood count (CBC) was established for each CTAS level. RESULTS: Multivariate ANOVA for mean ED LOS and hospital LOS by CTAS level rendered statistically significant results for ED LOS. Chi-square and trend analyses for proportion of patients admitted, having a CBC, or any imaging were significant (Bonferonni correction for multiple comparisons used). CTAS 1 2 3 4 5 P-Value Mean ED LOS (hrs) 5.7 4.0 3.5 2.1 1.7
ISSN:1069-6563
1553-2712
DOI:10.1197/aemj.10.5.512