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. 2022 Apr 27;30:32. doi: 10.1186/s13049-022-01019-z

Table 1.

Article inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
Prehospital/EMS focused* In-hospital focus only
In-depth description of triage tool included# Hypothetical triage tool@
Triage tool/process must be a main focus$ Systematic review/meta-analysis
Traditional ground and aeromedical EMS system Atypical EMS systems
Observational studies with n ≥ 50 Observational study with n < 50
Interventional studies Triage by EMS dispatch/communications center
Mass casualty triage tool
Termination of resuscitation tool
Prehospital clinical algorithm or protocol^

*The study had to specifically include patient-level prehospital data

#The triage tool must be fully described within the article or through a provided reference. The tool should help the provider arrive at a specific, often binary, triage decision (e.g., Transport patient to trauma center or not; label patient as low or high acuity)

$Assessment of triage outcomes or process must be a stated primary or secondary objective of the study

@The triage tool is not actively used in prehospital clinical practice, is used for research purposes only, or is in development

^Excludes EMS agency prehospital algorithms or protocols used for clinical management en route (e.g., “asthma protocol”) or those that rely on a single diagnostic tool such as a fingerstick glucose or EKG to make a triage decision (e.g., “chest pain protocol”)