AI-driven triage in emergency departments: A review of benefits, challenges, and future directions.

Background: Emergency Departments (EDs) are critical in providing immediate care, often under pressure from overcrowding, resource constraints, and variability in patient prioritization. Traditional triage systems, while structured, rely on subjective assessments, which can lack consistency during peak hours or mass casualty events. AI-driven triage systems present a promising solution, automating patient prioritization by analyzing real-time data, such as vital signs, medical history, and presenting symptoms.

A strategic solution to preventing the harm associated with ambulance handover delays.

Ambulance handover delays arise when emergency departments become overcrowded as patients waiting prolonged periods for admission occupy clinical cubicles designed to facilitate the assessment and treatment of emergency arrivals. In response, many organisations become reliant on temporarily lodging acutely unwell patients awaiting admission in undesignated areas for care such as corridors, to provide additional space. This results in a significant risk of avoidable harm, indignity and psychological trauma for patients and has a negative effect on the well-being of healthcare professionals, since unacceptable standards of care become normalised.