[Triage criteria in a emergency department].
OBJECTIVE
Accurate patient triage for the early identification of potentially seriously ill or high-risk children is needed due to the increasing demands made on paediatric emergency departments.


METHODS
A set of triage criteria for patient selection was established. Between October 1998 and April 1999 we selected 20 days with maximum patient flow in our emergency department (average 225 children/day). Patients who satisfied the triage criteria were selected. The following variables were studied: age, sex, triage criteria, waiting time, visit time and final diagnosis.


RESULTS
Five hundred and thirteen patients satisfied our triage criteria (11% of patients admitted to the emergency department). Median age was 3.4 years. The most frequent complaints (criteria) were dyspnea (36.4%), referral to the emergency department by another physician (29%), fever and rash (11.7%) and age under 1 month (5.8%). The most common causes of patient referral to hospital were acute abdominal pain and fever (31% each). Waiting and visit times were 29 and 55 minutes, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Definition of selection criteria seems effective and equivalent to other triage systems and allows optimization of human resources.
Concheiro Guisán
A
A
Sección de Urgencias. Servicio de Pediatría. Unidad Integrada Hospital Sant Joan de Déu-Hospital Clínic. Universidad de Barcelona.
Díaz González
E
E
Luaces Cubells
C
C
Pou Fernández
J
J
García García
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014218:Triage / Q000592:standards