title: Pediatric Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (PaedsCTAS) as a Measure of Injury Severity.
abstract: This research explored whether the pediatric version of the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (PaedsCTAS) represented a valid alternative indicator for surveillance of injury severity. Every patient presenting in a Canadian emergency department is assigned a CTAS or PaedsCTAS score in order to prioritize access to care and to predict the nature and scope of care that is likely to be required. The five-level PaedsCTAS score ranges from I (resuscitation) to V (non-urgent). A total of 256 children, 0 to 17-years-old, who attended a pediatric hospital for an injury were followed longitudinally. Of these children, 32.4% (n = 83) were hospitalized and 67.6% (n = 173) were treated in the emergency department and released. They completed the PedsQL(TM), a validated measure of health related quality of life, at baseline (pre-injury status), one-month, four- to six-months, and 12-months post-injury. In this secondary data analysis, PaedsCTAS was found to be significantly associated with hospitalization and length of stay, sensitive to the differences between PaedsCTAS II and III, and related to physical but not psychosocial HRQoL. The findings suggest that PaedsCTAS may be a useful proxy measure of injury severity to supplement or replace hospitalization status and/or length of stay, currently proxy measures.
authors.affiliation: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. morgan_yates13@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Morgan Thorn
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Yates
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. tishikawa@cfri.ca.
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. amyschneeberg@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schneeberg
authors.affiliation: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. mbrussoni@cfri.ubc.ca.|Department of Pediatrics, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. mbrussoni@cfri.ubc.ca.|British Columbia Injury Research &amp; Prevention Unit, British Columbia Children's Hospital, F508-4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4, Canada. mbrussoni@cfri.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brussoni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014218:Triage; D014947:Wounds and Injuries
keywords: Health Related Quality of Life; accident; hospitalization; length of stay; surveillance