Impact of an ABCDE team triage process combined with public guidance on the division of work in an emergency department

Figures & data

Figure 1. (A) Number of recorded monthly patient visits to nurses of Jorvi combined emergency service. Figure shows the original data in the form of an XmR chart: mean and 3 x δ (UCL) is presented. (B) Number of recorded monthly patient visits to nurses of Puolarmetsä (traditional) emergency service. (C) Number of recorded monthly patient visits to doctors of Puolarmetsä (traditional) emergency service. (D) Number of monthly recorded patient visits to doctors of Jorvi combined emergency service.

Table I. Number of monthly recorded patient visits to nurses and doctors of the studied EDs before and after triage.

	2004 (recorded entries/month)	2005 (recorded entries/month)	2006 (recorded entries/month)	After triage (recorded entries/month)	After diverting E-patients (recorded entries/month)
Jorvi primary care ED doctors	2487 ± 170	2578 ± 164	2510 ± 156	2016 ± 51***	1885 ± 250***
Jorvi primary care ED nurses	250 ± 62	298 ± 52	397 ± 43	907 ± 259***	623 ± 90***
Puolarmetsä primary care ED doctors	1545 ± 235	1649 ± 184	1596 ± 226	1206 ± 172***	1155 ± 162***
Puolarmetsä primary care ED nurses	295 ± 95	278 ± 80	245 ± 36	675 ± 153***	373 ± 66
Jorvi secondary care ED doctors	2470 ± 68	2620 ± 201	2595 ± 194	2553 ± 183	2525 ± 81

Mean ± SD is shown. and ***p < 0.001, Bonferroni test, compared with years 2004–2006.

Figure 2. Monthly numbers of the most common reasons for patient visits to Puolarmetsä (traditional) emergency service nurses for periods before (March–August 2006; grey bars) and after (March–August 2007; white bars) transfer to the triage system.

Table II. Distribution of ICPC-2 diagnoses in group E patients after implementing the ABCDE-triage.

ICPC code		JORVI ED	PUOLARMETSÄ ED		ICPC code	JORVI ED	PUOLARMETSÄ ED
R	RESPIRATORY	88	255***	S	SKIN
R05	Cough	22	39	S18	Laceration/cut	14
R21	Throat Symptom/Complaint	21	53	S19	Skin injury other		7
R29	Respiratory Symptom/Complaint other		9	S29	Skin symptom/complaint other		9
R74	Upper respiratory infection acute	24	120	D	DIGESTIVE	55	34***
R75	Sinusitis acute/chronic		11	D01	Abdominal pain/cramps general	7	7
R97	Allergic rhinitis		10	D10	Vomiting	13
L	MUSCULOSKELETAL	80	111	D11	Diarrhoea	16	8
L01	Neck symptom/Complaint	8		H	EAR	12	55***
L02	Back symptom/Complaint	20	41	H01	Ear pain/Earache	6	30
L05	Flank/Axilla Symptom/Complaint	6		H27	Fear of ear disease		8
L08	Shoulder Symptom/Complaint		6	F	EYE	8	49***
L09	Arm symptom/Complaint		6	F02	Red eye		14
L14	Leg/Thigh Symptom/Complaint	7		F29	Eye symptom/Complaint other	6	14
L15	Knee symptom/Complaint		12	F73	Eye infection/Inflammation other		8
L16	Ankle symptom/Complaint		6	-	PROCESS CODES	11	33
L17	Foot/Toe Symptom/Complaint	7	12	P	PSYCHOLOGICAL	30	8***
A	GENERAL AND UNSPECIFIED	77	91	P15	Chronic alcohol abuse	9
A02	Chills	7		P16	Acute alcohol abuse	5
A03	Fever	40	63	N	NEUROLOGICAL	19	10**
A29	General Symptom/Complaint, other	9	8	N01	Headache		8
A80	Trauma/Injury NOS		7	U	UROLOGICAL	11	14
S	SKIN	42	81	U01	Pain during urination		6
S08	Skin colour change		8	X	FEMALE GENITAL	8	6
S09	Infected finger/toe		8	K	CARDIOVASCULAR	5	4
S10	Boil/carbuncle		6	W	PREGNANCY, CHILDBEARING, FAMILY PLANNING	2	3
S11	Skin infection post-traumatic		6	Z	SOCIAL PROBLEMS	2	1
S16	Bruise/contusion	4		Y	MALE GENITAL	1	0
					TOTAL	431	723