Table 2.

Triage tool subgroups.

Property	Specific and prescriptive	Sensitive and permissive	Intermediate	Statistical prediction models
UK tools	5	7	4	0
Derivation	Expert opinion	Expert opinion	Expert opinion	Statistical modelling
Format	Checklist of variablesa	Checklist of variablesa	Checklist of variablesa	Clinical score or prediction equationb
Inclusion	High-energy mechanism of injury or suspected major trauma	Not defined	Inconsistently defined as suspected major trauma	Inconsistently defined as suspected major trauma
Domains (or ‘steps’)	2 Mandatory physiology and anatomical	4 Mandatory physiology and anatomical Discretionary mechanism and patient characteristics	3 Mandatory physiology and anatomical Unstructured clinical judgement	N/A Variables given weights and added together to provide a score or probability
Relative number of variables	Fewer	Higher	Intermediate	Fewer
Variable descriptions/ thresholds	Stricter	Liberal	Intermediate	Categorical or continuous scoring of variable
Relative accuracy	Specific	Sensitive	Intermediate	Intermediate
Formal clinical judgement	Less often	More often	More often	No
Senior clinical support	Less often	More often	More often	No
Other	Rural trauma networks	Includes all elderly and paediatric tools	—	—

^aPresented as paper algorithms, embedded within the electronic patient record or, rarely, in electronic applications. ^bOperationalised as paper scoring system or electronic scoring applications.