Triage at the Emergency Unit: assessment and compliance with maximum times

Section: Originals

How to quote

Sánchez-Onrubia IM, Monedero-La Orden J, Heras-Segovia L, Gómez-Cuenca EC, Bleda Rodríguez-De Vera E, Navarro-Rodenas E. Triaje en Urgencias: evaluación y cumplimiento de tiempos máximos de atención. Metas Enferm may 2023; 26(4):7-12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.35667/MetasEnf.2023.26.1003082093

Authors

Indalecio Miguel Sánchez-Onrubia1, Josefina Monedero-La Orden2, Lorena Heras-Segovia3,Elia Carmen Gómez-Cuenca2, Elena Bleda Rodríguez-De Vera3, Ester Navarro-Rodenas3

Position

1Grado de Enfermería. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital General de Almansa. Albacete (España)2Licenciada en Medicina. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital General de Almansa. Albacete (España)3Diplomada Universitaria en Enfermería. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital General de Almansa. Albacete (España)

Contact address

Indalecio Miguel Sánchez Onrubia. C/ Manzanilla, 17. 02008 Albacete (España).

Contact email: imsanchezo@sescam.jccm.es

Abstract

Objective: to assess the compliance with maximum times at the Emergency Unit of the Hospital General de Almansa (Albacete, Spain).
Method: a retrospective observational study conducted with the information from electronic clinical records collected through the Montesinos computer program. All patients attending the Emergency Unit of the Hospital General de Almansa during the second half of 2019 were included. The variables were: age, gender, date and time of admission to the Emergency Unit, start and end of the triage, first medical care, triage level assigned, time of stay at the Emergency Unit, and reason for discharge from the Emergency Unit. There was descriptive analysis and comparison of mean times based on level of priority and day of the week.
Results: the study included 13,414 patients, with a mean age of 46.05 years (SD 27.01); 28.8% (n= 3,866) were >65-year-old, and 85.8% (n= 11,355) of patients were classified within the first 10 minutes. The triage took <5 minutes for 98.5%
(n= 13,045) of patients. The most widely used level of priority was Level IV (58.4%). The mean time of medical care was 30:27 minutes, (SD1:06:44), and the mean stay at the Emergency Unit was of 2.86 hours (SD 3.48). Significant differences were found regarding the level of triage assigned and the time until being seen by a doctor (p< 0.001), as well as with the time of stay at the Emergency Unit (p< 0.001).
Conclusions: the triage conducted meets the requirements set by Decree 49/2019. There is room for improvement in the times for reception and classification of patients attending the Emergency Unit.

Keywords:

triage; emergency medical services; Hospital Care; nursing care; quality of health care

Versión en Español

Título:

Triaje en Urgencias: evaluación y cumplimiento de tiempos máximos de atención