Table 5.
Patients assessed with full triage or limited triage
| Full triage | Limited triage | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n = 5150 | n = 1502 | ||
| Age – years (25th, 75th percentile) | |||
| Median | 69 (45,83) | 57 (34,76) | <0.001 |
| Sex – n (%) | |||
| Female | 2758 (53.6) | 767 (51.1) | 0.089 |
| Dispatcher priority – n (%) (16,17)a | <0.001 | ||
| Priority 1 | 2436 (47.4) | 813 (54.7) | |
| Priority 2 | 2485 (48.4) | 586 (39.5) | |
| Priority 3 | 213 (4.1) | 86 (5.8) | |
| Dispatch medical indexb – n (%) (19,12)a | |||
| Chest pain/cardiac disease | 834 (16.3) | 157 (10.5) | <0.001 |
| Extremity/wound/minor trauma | 612 (12.9) | 192 (11.9) | 0.322 |
| Uncertain information/suspicion of severe illness | 570 (11.1) | 156 (10.5) | 0.510 |
| Respiratory difficulties | 602 (11.7) | 106 (7.1) | <0.001 |
| Abdominal/urinary tract symptoms | 624 (12.2) | 80 (5.4) | <0.001 |
| Medical historyc – n (%) | |||
| Diseases of the circulatory system I00-I99 | 5135 (30.0) | 1002 (23.1) | <0.001 |
| Mental and behavioural disorders F00-F99 | 2616 (15.3) | 1195 (27.5) | <0.001 |
| Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases E00-E89 | 1558 (9.1) | 348 (8.0) | 0.024 |
| Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue M00-M99 | 1190 (7.0) | 259 (6.0) | 0.020 |
| Diseases of the digestive system K00-K95 | 1046 (6.1) | 179 (4.1) | <0.001 |
| No medical history | 634 (12.3) | 270 (18.0) | <0.001 |
| Time of day – n (%) | 0.037 | ||
| 08:00–16:00 | 2294 (44.5) | 612 (40.7) | |
| 16:00–24:00 | 1848 (35.9) | 590 (39.3) | |
| 24:00–08:00 | 1008 (19.6) | 300 (20.0) | |
| Time on scene – mins (25th, 75th percentile) | |||
| Median | 23 (16,31) | 21 (13,30) | <0.001 |
| Prehospital triage level – n (%) (0, 551)a | 0.655 | ||
| Red | 489 (9.5) | 115 (12.1) | |
| Orange | 1609 (31.2) | 299 (31.4) | |
| Yellow | 2244 (43.6) | 351 (36.9) | |
| Green | 808 (15.7) | 186 (19.6) | |
| Prehospital field assessment according to RETTS-Ad – n (%) (0,538)a | |||
| Chest/thoracic pain | 537 (10.4) | 86 (8.9) | 0.164 |
| Abdominal/flank pain | 548 (10.6) | 46 (4.8) | <0.001 |
| Respiratory distress/dyspnoa/breathing difficulties | 504 (9.8) | 41 (4.3) | <0.001 |
| Unspecific condition | 423 (8.2) | 68 (7.1) | 0.245 |
| Injury head trauma | 266 (5.2) | 86 (8.9) | <0.001 |
| Under the influence of substances (alcohol, drugs) – n (%) | 423 (8.2) | 246 (16.4) | <0.001 |
| Prehospital medication – n (%) | |||
| Any medication | 1581 (30.7) | 330 (22.0) | <0.001 |
| Intravenous medication | 852 (16.5) | 181 (12.1) | < 0.001 |
| Level of care – n (%) | |||
| Hospital | 4394 (85.3) | 946 (63.0) | <0.001 |
| Emergency department | 4072 (92.7) | 848 (89.6) | 0.002 |
| Bypass emergency departmente | 322 (7.3) | 99 (10.4) | |
| Referral to primary care | 93 (1.8) | 50 (3.3) | 0.001 |
| Stay on scene with increased social/home care | 61 (1.2) | 39 (2.6) | <0.001 |
| Stay on scene with advice on self-care/medication | 602 (11.7) | 467 (31.1) | <0.001 |
| ED admission within 72 h | 76 (10.1) | 50 (9.0) | 0.570 |
| Mode of transport to hospital – n (%) | 0.001 | ||
| Ambulance | 4120 (93.8) | 859 (90.8) | |
| By own transportation | 32 (0.7) | 9 (1.0) | |
| Patient transport | 117 (2.7) | 24 (2.5) | |
| Seated transport | 121 (2.8) | 38 (4.0) | |
| Police | 16 (1.7) | 4 (0.1) | |
| Management ED – n (%) (3,11)a | |||
| Admitted to in-patient care | 2208 (50.4) | 423 (44.6) | 0.002 |
| Extended examination/interventionf | 593 (13.5) | 181 (19.2) | <0.001 |
| Lab, drug administration, prescription | 1203 (27.4) | 209 (22.2) | 0.001 |
| Clinical examination/observation only | 187 (4.3) | 88 (9.3) | <0.001 |
| Patient managed by ED nurse, referral to primary care | 43 (1.0) | 11 (1.2) | 0.591 |
| Patient leaves without being seen or against medical advice | 149 (3.4) | 31 (3.3) | 0.921 |
| Days of in-patient care – n | |||
| Mean (SD) | 8.0 (8.8) | 8.8 (12.6) | 0.097 |
| Median (25th,75th percentile) | 5 (3,11) | 5 (2,11) | 0.112 |
| Final hospital assessment, ICD-107 – n (%) (83,261)a | |||
| Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings R00-R99 | 857 (20.7) | 114 (13.2) | < 0.001 |
| Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes S00-S99, T00-T98 | 693 (16.8) | 235 (27.3) | < 0.001 |
| Mental and behavioural disorders F00-F99 | 266 (6.4) | 157 (18.2) | <0.001 |
| Diseases of the circulatory system I00-I99 | 530 (12.8) | 105 (12.2) | 0.653 |
| Diseases of the respiratory system J00-J99 | 383 (9.3) | 35 (4.1) | <0.001 |
| Time-critical diagnosis (83,261)a | 416 (10.1) | 135 (15.6) | < 0.001 |
| Deranged clinical signs/ occurrence of complications within 48 hh | 418 (9.5) | 119 (12.6) | 0.006 |
| All-cause mortality – n (%) | |||
| ≤ 7 days | 89 (1.7) | 57 (3.8) | < 0.001 |
| ≤ 30 days | 217 (4.2) | 74 (4.9) | 0.234 |
| ≤ 365 days | 741 (14.4) | 175 (11.7) | 0.006 |
aMissing in each group respectively
bThe five most common dispatch medical indices
cThe five most common medical history ICD-10 chapters, a patient can have more than one diagnosis
dThe five most common EMS field assessments
eypass including pathway stroke, hip fracture, cardiac ICU, cath-lab, admission by EMS directly to geriatric ward, infection ward and psychiatric ED
fX-ray, computed tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance, lumbar puncture, suturing, proctoscopy
gThe five most common final hospital ICD-10 chapters
hOccurrence of life-threatening events in ambulance, ED or ward within 48 h