Triage Method for Out-of-Hospital Poisoned Patients.
10.3346/jkms.2007.22.2.336
- Author:
Woon Yong KWON
1
;
Joong Eui RHEE
;
Hong Seong GANG
;
Sang Do SHIN
;
Jun Hwi CHO
;
Hyoung Gon SONG
;
Gil Joon SUH
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea. suhgil@snu.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Evaluation Studies
- Keywords:
Triage;
Poisoning
- MeSH:
Triage/methods/*organization & administration;
Telephone;
Telemedicine/methods/*organization & administration;
Severity of Illness Index;
Sensitivity and Specificity;
Risk Factors;
Risk Assessment/*methods;
Reproducibility of Results;
Prognosis;
Poisoning/*diagnosis/*therapy;
Male;
Korea;
Humans;
Female;
Emergency Medical Services/methods/*organization & administration;
Decision Trees;
*Decision Support Techniques;
Child, Preschool;
Child;
Adult;
Adolescent
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science
2007;22(2):336-341
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a triage method to prevent unnecessary emergency department visits of out-of-hospital poisoned patients. From October 2003 to September 2004, the calls that lay persons gave to the Seoul Emergency Medical Information Center to seek advices on the out-of-hospital poisoned patients were enrolled. We designed a triage protocol that consisted of five factors and applied it to the patients. According to the medical outcomes, we classified the patients into two groups, the toxicity-positive and the toxicity-negative. We arranged the factors on the basis of the priority that was determined in order of the odds ratio of each factor for the toxicity-positive and made a flow chart as a triage method. Then we calculated a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the method. We regarded the specificity as the ability of the method and the sensitivity as the safety. A total of 220 patients were enrolled in this study. The method showed a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 99.2%, 53.4%, 76.2%, and 97.9%, respectively. Our triage method prevented 53.4% of the unnecessary emergency department visits of outof-hospital acutely poisoned patients, safely.
