A comparison of emergency triage scales in triaging poisoned patients.

Background: Triage of toxicology patients presents a challenge due to their complexity, underlying psychosocial issues, and additional pharmacological considerations. Two emergency department triage systems used in Australia, the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) and the Manchester Triage System (MTS), were compared in triaging patients presenting with poisoning and envenoming.

Methods: In this simulation-based study, 30 triage nurses from three hospitals were given 8 tabletop scenarios and asked to provide a triage category.

A stream for complex, ambulant patients reduces crowding in an emergency department.

Objective: The study aims to evaluate the effect of adding a stream for complex, ambulatory patients in an ED.

Methods: The setting was an ED in a principal referral hospital in New South Wales, Australia. In 2011, a new stream was added to the pre-existing acute care (high complexity patients) and fast track (low complexity patients) streams.