title: Impact of triage in accident and emergency departments in Bahrain.
abstract: We aimed to assess the impact of triage by physicians on the workload and expenditure of the Accident and Emergency (AE) Department of Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain. We analysed three sets of data: patient visits to the AE Department over a 9-month period; patient visits 1 year previously; and forecast patient visits over 9 months starting from July 1999. The referral of patients to AE cubicles was reduced by 54.4% after the implementation of the triage, and reduction in the workload was statistically significant. The reduction in health care expenditure was estimated at between 15.3% and 17.3%. We conclude that triage by physicians can be cost-effective and can reduce the AE Department workload, freeing more time to manage life-threatening and urgent cases.
authors.affiliation: Office of Medical Review, Ministry of Health, Manama, Bahrain.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Fateha
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Hamza
mesh_terms: D001445:Bahrain; D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005544:Forecasting; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D017059:Models, Econometric; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D012621:Seasons; D013997:Time Factors; D014218:Triage / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data