Developing and Application of a Novel Triage Tag.
- Author:
Seung Dong LEE
1
;
Minjung Kathy CHAE
;
Sung Yeon HWANG
;
Tae Rim LEE
;
Won Chul CHA
;
Tae Gun SHIN
;
Min Seob SIM
;
Ik Joon JO
;
Keun Jeong SONG
;
Joong Eui RHEE
;
Yeon Kwon JEONG
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. docchaster@gmail.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Disasters;
Injuries;
Triage
- MeSH:
Disasters;
Education;
Emergencies;
Follow-Up Studies;
Humans;
Pliability;
Triage*;
Vital Signs
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2016;27(5):414-421
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: Triage tags help prioritize the treatment for disaster patients based on the severity of the illness and help distribute limited resources during a time of disaster. In this study, we developed a novel triage tag and evaluated its feasibility during a hospital-based disaster drill. METHODS: For the first stage, we developed a new triage tag. The most commonly used triage tags (Medical Emergency Triage-TAG and SMART tag) were analyzed. We reassembled their advantages and invented a novel triage tag (NT tag). The second stage involved an evaluation of the quality of NT tag. The NT tag was used in a hospital-based disaster drill held in a single center with 22 mock patients. After the drill, hospital staffs were asked to complete a questionnaire which included visibility, comprehensibility, and ease of use with respect to the new NT tag. A five-category Likert scale was used to quantify the answer. RESULTS: The NT tag was successfully developed considering 6 quality indexes: visibility, expandability, flexibility, solidity, space, and fixity. Forty-two out of ninety (46.7%) subjects answered the questionnaire. Approximately 21% of participants had previous disaster drill experience and 33% had previous education of the SMART triage system. The visibility scale of the severity category was on average 3.3 (standard deviation (SD): 1.0), the comprehensiveness of the severity category was 3.6 (SD:0.9), the ease to understand patient information was 2.2-4.2, the ease to follow up symptoms and vital signs was 2.3-4.1. Eighty and percent of participants preferred to use the NT tag in a future disaster situation or disaster drill. CONCLUSION: We successfully developed a novel triage tag. The NT tag showed moderate feasibility.
