Reliability and validity of an Italian four-level emergency triage system.
OBJECTIVE
To measure the reliability and predictive validity of a four-level triage system (I-4L).


METHODS
This observational study was conducted in an urban hospital. Five nurses were randomly selected to assign a triage level to 246 paper scenarios, using the I-4L model. The I-4L model is a four-level triage system: urgency category (UC) 1 requires immediate response; UCs 2, 3 and 4 require assessment within 20, 60 and 120 min, respectively. Weighted kappa statistics were used to measure the inter-rater and intrarater reliability of the triage tool and the validity of the model was assessed based on the accuracy in predicting admission and in predicting a reference standard's triage code.


RESULTS
The I-4L model's inter-rater reliability was kappa=0.73 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.79), and the intrarater reliability was kappa=0.82 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.96). Its accuracy of triage rating for admission and for prediction of a reference standard's triage code was good: 79% (95% CI 73% to 86%) and 93% (95% CI 89% to 96%), respectively. The percentages of patients admitted per triage level using the I-4L model was: 100% UC 1; 42% UC 2; 6% UC 3; and 2% UC 4.


CONCLUSIONS
The I-4L triage model shows a good inter-rater and intrarater reliability for rating triage acuity and for accuracy in patient admission and prediction of a reference standard's triage code.
Parenti
Nicola
N
Department of Emergency Medicine of the Community Hospital Santa Maria della Scaletta, Imola, Italy.
Manfredi
Roberta
R
Bacchi Reggiani
Maria Letizia
ML
Sangiorgi
Diego
D
Lenzi
Tiziano
T
D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D015588:Observer Variation; D010343:Patient Admission; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D014218:Triage / Q000145:classification / Q000379:methods*