Delays in treatment and disposition attributable to undertriage of pediatric emergency medicine patients.
Admission
Emergency medicine
Pediatrics
Return visits
Triage
Undertriage
Journal
The American journal of emergency medicine
ISSN: 1532-8171
Titre abrégé: Am J Emerg Med
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 8309942
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2023
12 2023
Historique:
received:
13
07
2023
revised:
20
09
2023
accepted:
30
09
2023
medline:
24
11
2023
pubmed:
13
10
2023
entrez:
12
10
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Triage, the initial assessment and sorting of patients in the Emergency Department (ED), determines priority of evaluation and treatment. Little is known about the impact of undertriage, the underestimation of disease severity at triage, on clinical care in pediatric ED patients. We evaluate the impact of undertriage on time to disposition and treatment decisions in pediatric ED patients. This was a case control study of ED visits for patients <22 years of age, with an assigned Emergency Severity Index (ESI) score of 4 or 5, and associated hospital admission, nebulized treatment, supplemental oxygen, and/or intravenous (IV) line placement, between January 1, 2018, to June 30, 2022. Controls were sampled from a pool of patient visits with an ESI score of 3, matched by intervention, disposition, and date and hour of arrival. Primary outcome measures were time to order of intervention (nebulized treatment, oxygen administration, or IV placement) and time to disposition decision. A secondary outcome measure was return visits requiring admission or emergency intervention within 14 days of the index visit. Continuous variables (time to orders) were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank sum test and dichotomous outcomes (return visits) were compared using odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Analysis was performed with Python v3.10. The final analysis included 7245 undertriaged patients. Undertriaged patients had longer times to orders for nebulized treatments, (p < 0.001) IV placement, (p < 0.001) and admission (p < 0.001) when compared to controls. There were no significant differences in time to supplemental oxygen delivery and time to discharge compared to controls. Undertriaged patients were more likely to experience a return visit requiring admission or emergency intervention (OR 3.74, 95% CI 3.32,4.22). Undertriage in the pediatric ED is associated with delays in care and disposition decisions and increases likelihood of return visits.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Triage, the initial assessment and sorting of patients in the Emergency Department (ED), determines priority of evaluation and treatment. Little is known about the impact of undertriage, the underestimation of disease severity at triage, on clinical care in pediatric ED patients. We evaluate the impact of undertriage on time to disposition and treatment decisions in pediatric ED patients.
METHODS
This was a case control study of ED visits for patients <22 years of age, with an assigned Emergency Severity Index (ESI) score of 4 or 5, and associated hospital admission, nebulized treatment, supplemental oxygen, and/or intravenous (IV) line placement, between January 1, 2018, to June 30, 2022. Controls were sampled from a pool of patient visits with an ESI score of 3, matched by intervention, disposition, and date and hour of arrival. Primary outcome measures were time to order of intervention (nebulized treatment, oxygen administration, or IV placement) and time to disposition decision. A secondary outcome measure was return visits requiring admission or emergency intervention within 14 days of the index visit. Continuous variables (time to orders) were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank sum test and dichotomous outcomes (return visits) were compared using odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Analysis was performed with Python v3.10.
RESULTS
The final analysis included 7245 undertriaged patients. Undertriaged patients had longer times to orders for nebulized treatments, (p < 0.001) IV placement, (p < 0.001) and admission (p < 0.001) when compared to controls. There were no significant differences in time to supplemental oxygen delivery and time to discharge compared to controls. Undertriaged patients were more likely to experience a return visit requiring admission or emergency intervention (OR 3.74, 95% CI 3.32,4.22).
CONCLUSIONS
Undertriage in the pediatric ED is associated with delays in care and disposition decisions and increases likelihood of return visits.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37826993
pii: S0735-6757(23)00537-5
doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.09.054
pii:
doi:
Substances chimiques
Oxygen
S88TT14065
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
130-134Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of Competing Interest DB, JC, NM, CR, JC report no conflict of interest.