VALIDATION OF EMS DISPATCH CODES ASSOCIATED WITH LOW-ACUITY PATIENTS

To undertake a feasibility study to determine if prehospital criteria, including the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) score, can predict patient disposition and/or necessity of transport to an emergency department. Methods: One hundred twenty-one (121) consecutive charts of patients arriving at the QEII Health Sciences Center Emergency Department by ambulance during March 2003 were reviewed. Charts were excluded if they were completely blank, or were direct consults to other hospital services, thus bypassing ED care, or inter-facility transfers. The ambulance patient care reports (PCRs) were obtained for each corresponding patient chart, and reviewed for the demographic, health, management and disposition criteria. Results: Using criteria agreed to prior to the study as to which patients needed to be seen in the emergency department, the percentages of CTAS 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 patients requiring transport to the ED were 100%, 85.7%, 57.7%, 46%, and 20%, respectively. We did not look at the influence of age or sex. There was only one CTAS 1 patient and 5 CTAS 5 patients. Also, the CTAS score was the most frequent criterion not documented on the PCR. Conclusions: There was direct correlation between the CTAS score and the need for ED attendance. A larger study is planned after communication with the paramedics on the importance of CTAS documentation.