Table 2 A and B Characteristics of patients according to triage priority based on vital signs. The triage priority based on vital signs as part of the rapid emergency treatment and triage system adult (RETTS-A) is based on the vital sign which deviates most from the normal range. The patient’s final triage priority is the more urgent of either the most deviant vital sign or the patient’s presenting symptom
Characteristic | Green priority | Yellow priority | Orange priority | Red priority | Vital signs unknown | All | Missing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | |||||||
N (%) | N = 69216 (71.7 %) | N = 13302 (13.8 %) | N = 6435 (6.7 %) | N = 3838 (4.0 %) | N = 3721 (3.9 %) | N = 96512 | 0 |
Female sex | 36604 (52.9 %) | 6777 (50.9 %) | 3249 (50.5 %) | 1907 (49.7 %) | 1661 (44.6 %) | 50198 (52.0 %) | 0 |
Age in years - mean ± SD | 54 ± 21 | 65 ± 21 | 67 ± 20 | 68 ± 20 | 46 ± 20 | 56 ± 22 | 0 |
Vital signs –mean ± SD | |||||||
SpO2 (%) | 97.6 ± 1.5 | 94.5 ± 2.5 | 93.4 ± 7.0 | 92.3 ± 7.3 | - | 96.6 ± 3.3 | 4038 |
RR (min−1) | 16.7 ± 2.7 | 17.9 ± 3.3 | 23.0 ± 5.5 | 29.3 ± 9.9 | - | 17.8 ± 4.6 | 4532 |
PR (min−1) | 79.8 ± 13.8 | 89.7 ± 20.4 | 100.5 ± 26.3 | 111.5 ± 33.1 | - | 84.0 ± 19.0 | 4022 |
SBP (mmHg) | 147.2 ± 26.9 | 145.0 ± 28.5 | 144.0 ± 29.3 | 135.7 ± 36.9 | - | 146.2 ± 27.9 | 4252 |
DBP (mmHg) | 81.1 ± 13.7 | 78.9 ± 15.0 | 79.5 ± 16.6 | 75.8 ± 20.8 | - | 80.4 ± 14.5 | 4460 |
Temp (°C) | 36.8 ± 0.5 | 37.1 ± 0.9 | 36.9 ± 1.2 | 37.1 ± 1.1 | - | 36.9 ± 0.7 | 4860 |
AVPU | 3968 | ||||||
Alert - % | 100 | 89.4 | 89.1 | 83.1 | 97.0 | ||
Verbal - % | 0 | 10.6 | 5.0 | 8.9 | 2.2 | ||
Responsive - % | 0 | 0 | 5.9 | 2.6 | 0.5 | ||
Unresponsive - % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.4 | 0.2 | ||
Supplemental O2 - N (%) | 785 (1.1 %) | 395 (3.0 %) | 508 (7.9 %) | 950 (24.9 %) | 2638 (2.9 %) | 4038 | |
Irregular PR-N (%) | 4101 (5.9 %) | 1709 (12.9 %) | 1776 (27.7 %) | 873 (22.8 %) | 8459 (9.1 %) | 4019 | |
B | |||||||
N (%) | N = 69216 (71.7 %) | N = 13302 (13.8 %) | N = 6435 (6.7 %) | N = 3838 (4.0 %) | N = 3721 (3.9 %) | N = 96512 | 0 |
Comorbidities – N (%) | |||||||
Previously healthy | 27246 (39.4 %) | 2631 (19.8 %) | 936 (14.5 %) | 450 (11.7 %) | 640 (17.2 %) | 31903 (33.1 %) | |
Cardiovascular disease | 12489 (18.0 %) | 3651 (27.4 %) | 2196 (34.1 %) | 1234 (32.2 %) | 61 (1.6 %) | 19631 (20.3 %) | |
Cerebrovascular disease | 2936 (4.2 %) | 1040 (7.8 %) | 478 (7.4 %) | 291 (7.6 %) | 14 (0.4 %) | 4759 (4.9 %) | |
Immunosuppressive disease | 213 (0.3 %) | 57 (0.4 %) | 33 (0.5 %) | 20 (0.5 %) | 2 (0.1 %) | 325 (0.3 %) | |
Cardiac failure | 1030 (1.5 %) | 516 (3.9 %) | 445 (6.9 %) | 319 (8.3 %) | 2 (0.1 %) | 2312 (2.4 %) | |
Kidney disease | 666 (1.0 %) | 216 (1.6 %) | 154 (2.4 %) | 109 (2.8 %) | 1 (0 %) | 1146 (1.2 %) | |
Liver disease | 258 (0.4 %) | 109 (0.8 %) | 35 (0.5 %) | 40 (1.0 %) | 0 (0 %) | 442 (0.5 %) | |
Lung disease | 3220 (4.7 %) | 1547 (11.6 %) | 1159 (18.0 %) | 821 (21.4 %) | 34 (0.9 %) | 6781 (7.0 %) | |
Current malignancy | 2307 (3.3 %) | 765 (5.8 %) | 364 (5.7 %) | 265 (6.9 %) | 17 (0.5 %) | 3718 (3.9 %) | |
Diabetes mellitus | 4985 (7.2 %) | 1542 (11.6 %) | 800 (12.4 %) | 448 (11.7 %) | 36 (1.0 %) | 7811 (8.1 %) | |
Surgery past 6 months | 496 (0.7 %) | 104 (0.8 %) | 42 (0.7 %) | 16 (04 %) | 2 (0.1 %) | 660 (0.7 %) | |
ED Section – N (%) | |||||||
Medicine | 22216 (32.1 %) | 4885 (36.7 %) | 1658 (25.8 %) | 813 (21.2 %) | 226 (6.1 %) | 29798 (30.9 %) | |
Cardiology | 14335 (20.7 %) | 3306 (24.9 %) | 3161 (49.1 %) | 2186 (57.0 %) | 153 (4.1 %) | 23141 (24.0 %) | |
Surgery | 19987 (28.9 %) | 3099 (23.3 %) | 1112 (17.3 %) | 639 (16.6 %) | 316 (8.5 %) | 25153 (26.1 %) | |
Orthopaedia | 9874 (14.3 %) | 1634 (12.3 %) | 409 (6.4 %) | 127 (3.3 %) | 626 (16.8 %) | 12,670 (13.1 %) | |
Other (e.g.. nurse, student) | 2804 (4.1 %) | 378 (2.8 %) | 95 (1.5 %) | 73 (1.9 %) | 2400 (64.5 %) | 5750 (6.0 %) | |
Hospital admission | 21471 (31.0 %) | 6886 (51.8 %) | 4371 (67.9 %) | 3045 (79.3 %) | 362 (9.7 %) | 36135 (37.4 %) | |