Homelessness and Emergency Department Use: Wait Time Disparities Across Triage Acuity Levels

Weerasinghe, Swarna S; Campbell, Samuel G

doi:10.7759/cureus.49520

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 20 publications

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“…Waiting times have often been described as improving with the transition to the 5-level triage system [3,4]; however, there is not complete agreement on this in the literature, as on the other hand, a lengthening of waiting times has been described [5]. The various triage systems need to identify and prioritize patients who require an urgent intervention in a short time; therefore, it is important to find solutions with efficacy to reduce waiting times [3][4][5][6][7][8]. For this reason, we went to see how the transition to the 5-level triage system affected waiting times.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geriatric Population Triage: The Risk of Real-Life Over- and Under-Triage in an Overcrowded ED: 4- and 5-Level Triage Systems Compared: The CREONTE (Crowding and R E Organization National TriagE) Study

Savioli,

Ceresa,

Bressan

et al. 2024

JPM

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Elderly patients, when they present to the emergency department (ED) or are admitted to the hospital, are at higher risk of adverse outcomes such as higher mortality and longer hospital stays. This is mainly due to their age and their increased fragility. In order to minimize this already increased risk, adequate triage is of foremost importance for fragile geriatric (>75 years old) patients who present to the ED. The admissions of elderly patients from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020 were examined, taking into consideration the presence of two different triage systems, a 4-level (4LT) and a 5-level (5LT) triage system. This study analyzes the difference in wait times and under- (UT) and over-triage (OT) in geriatric and general populations with two different triage models. Another outcome of this study was the analysis of the impact of crowding and its variables on the triage system during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 423,257 ED presentations were included. An increase in admissions of geriatric, more fragile, and seriously ill individuals was observed, and a progressive increase in crowding was simultaneously detected. Geriatric patients, when presenting to the emergency department, are subject to the problems of UT and OT in both a 4LT system and a 5LT system. Several indicators and variables of crowding increased, with a net increase in throughput and output factors, notably the length of stay (LOS), exit block, boarding, and processing times. This in turn led to an increase in wait times and an increase in UT in the geriatric population. It has indeed been shown that an increase in crowding results in an increased risk of UT, and this is especially true for 4LT compared to 5LT systems. When observing the pandemic period, an increase in admissions of older and more serious patients was observed. However, in the pandemic period, a general reduction in waiting times was observed, as well as an increase in crowding indices and intrahospital mortality. This study demonstrates how introducing a 5LT system enables better flow and patient care in an ED. Avoiding UT of geriatric patients, however, remains a challenge in EDs.

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