Table 3.
Patient characteristics based on the twelve workflow allocations
| CONTROL | i-STAT | i-STAT CBC | ECG | LODOX | i-STAT ECG | i-STAT CBC ECG | i-STAT LODOX | i-STAT CBC LODOX | ECG LODOX | i-STAT ECG LODOX | i-STAT CBC ECG LODOX | p-value for between group test | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | 75 | 75 | 74 | 77 | 75 | 74 | 76 | 74 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 73 | |
| Age median (IQR) | 45.7 (34.2; 61.7) | 45.2 (31.6; 59.3) | 44.2 (33.3; 68.0) | 44 (33.9; 61.0) | 41.6 (33.0; 55.5) | 41.9 (33.3; 56.6) | 40.7 (27.3; 60.9) | 42.1 (29.9; 60.8) | 37.1 (30.0; 55.1) | 44.9 (35.0; 60.5) | 39.5 (30.0; 61.3) | 41.3 (31.5; 55.6) | 0.65 |
| Sex: Males (%) | 30 (40.0) | 30 (40.0) | 29 (39.2) | 36 (46.8) | 30 (40.0) | 27 (36.5) | 35 (46.1) | 18 (32.4) | 28 (36.4) | 31 (42.5) | 42 (56.8) | 37 (50.7) | 0.11 |
| Triage category | 0.30 | ||||||||||||
| N (%) | |||||||||||||
| Orangec | 22 (29.3) | 18 (24.0) | 11 (15.1) | 22 (28.6) | 15 20.0) | 16 (21.6) | 24 (31.6) | 18 (24.3) | 22 (28.6) | 14 (19.2) | 18 (24.3) | 21 (28.8) | |
| Yellowc | 52 (69.3) | 54 (72.0) | 59 (80.8) | 52 (67.5) | 60 (80.0) | 57 (77.0) | 50 (65.8) | 54 (73.0) | 55 (71.4) | 59 (80.8) | 56 (75.7) | 48 (65.8) | |
| Greenc | 1 (1.3) | 3 (4.0) | 3 (4.1) | 3 (3.9) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.4) | 2 (2.6) | 2 (2.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (5.5) | |
| Admitteda b N(%) | 32 (42.7) | 32 (42.7) | 40 (54.1) | 34 (44.2) | 34 (45.3) | 29 (39.2) | 42 (56.0) | 35 (47.3) | 32 (41.6) | 39 (53.4) | 40 (54.1) | 39 (53.4) | 0.62 |
| Dischargeda N(%) | 38 (50.7) | 41 (54.7) | 33 (44.6) | 43 (55.8) | 41 (54.7) | 42 (56.8) | 33 (44.0) | 39 (52.7) | 44 (57.1) | 33 (45.2) | 34 (45.9) | 34 (46.6) | |
CBC Complete Blood Count, ECG Electrocardiogram, IQR inter-quartile range, i-STAT i-STAT POC tests, LODOX® Low-dose x-ray
a8.2% of all patients were referred to another speciality as their disposition plan (i.e. neither admitted nor discharged)
bThe overall admission rate for this ED is usually 30–35%. This includes all patient presentations e.g. trauma, general surgery, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology etc. The medical subgroup of patients typically has a higher admission rate than other patients
cTarget times for the patients in each triage acuity category are Orange (to be seen within 10 min of ED arrival), Yellow (to be seen within 1 h of ED arrival) and Green (to be seen within 4 h of ED arrival)