Emergency medicine
Harish Kodisiddaiah Shivanna; Aruna Chala Ramesh; Keshava Murthy M Rangaswamy
Volume 8, Issue 1 , January 2022, , Pages 43-48
Abstract
Objective:To implement the 5-level Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage tool into nursingpractice in the emergency department (ED) and validate it with a population-based cohortusing hospitalization and length of stay (LOS) as outcome measures.Methods: The study included 850 patients, irrespective of ...
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Objective:To implement the 5-level Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage tool into nursingpractice in the emergency department (ED) and validate it with a population-based cohortusing hospitalization and length of stay (LOS) as outcome measures.Methods: The study included 850 patients, irrespective of age and gender, reporting tothe ED of a tertiary care hospital. Each patient was assessed by the triage nurse as perthe 5-level ESI triage tool and categorized. The number and type of resources used by thepatient, LOS in the ED and the outcome were noted. Data were statistically analyzed byusing RStudio Team software, 2015. A P value of < 0.05 was considered to be statisticallysignificant.Results: The majority of patients belonged to ESI-4 (46.82%), followed by ESI-1 (19.41%),ESI-2 (17.06%), ESI-3 (10.35%), and ESI-5 (6.35%). In most patients, the LOS in the ED was<120 minutes (55.65%). ESI showed a statistically significant association with all the clinicalcharacteristics, as well as resources used, interventions needed, maximum time allowedbefore initiating physician assessment, duration of stay in ED, and patient outcomes(P=0.000). ESI was found to have a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 78%.Conclusion: ESI is a useful and valid tool for the emergency triage and has the potential tobecome the standard triage acuity assessment in EDs in India.