A nationwide survey of Thailand emergency departments triage systems

3^rd Annual Congress and Medicare Expo on Trauma and Critical Care

March 13-14, 2017 London, UK

Porntip Wachiradilok, Teera Sirisamutr and Anuchar Sethasathien

National Institute of Emergency Medicine, Thailand

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Trauma Treat

Abstract :

This rapid survey study was to assess the current status and illustrated the problem of Thailand emergency department triage systems. The subjects were 178 registered nurses on emergency department in tertiary hospitals of ministry of public health and university. The research instruments were personal information, a survey questionnaire and structured interview questions. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Fisher exact probability test and content analysis. The results show almost all hospitals have a triage zone (87.9%) where the assignment was mainly done by a nurse (98.3%). In order to assess and identify the priority of the patient's need for medical treatment, most hospitals (75.8%) use the emergency severity index (ESI) approach to classify patients into five levels with different colors. Following the ESI approach, some hospitals (15.2%) may also classify the triage into three, four, five levels with different conventional classifications both symbols and colors. When inspecting the triage system of the emergency department services, region 13 had the most variety, the triage system in regions were significantly different (p<0.05). The difference in the staff knowledge and experience influences the triage quality to be under or over triage. Frequent complaints are made from the patient about long waiting time, despite having publicized that the treatment is prioritized on the severity of patient injuries. It is suggested to improve classification into five levels based on ESI approach to classify emergency patients, flexibility according to the readiness in each region.