Triage Accuracy and Its Association with Patient Factors Using Emergency Severity Index: Findings from United Arab Emirates

Figures & data

Table 1 Population Dynamics

	n	Percentage
Age-group (years)
0–10	153,804	26.7
11–20	73,665	12.8
21–30	122,998	21.3
31–40	101,046	17.5
41–50	48,571	8.4
51–60	31,147	5.4
61–70	22,235	3.9
71–80	12,812	2.2
80+	7,213	1.3
Missing	2,663	0.5
Sex
Female	261,500	45.4
Male	314,637	54.6
Missing	17	0.0
Nationality
Emirati	352,513	61.2
Non -Emirati	223,641	38.8
Acuity
1	1,948	0.3
2	21,044	3.7
3	242,538	42.1
4	247,365	42.9
5	52,181	9.1
Missing	11,078	1.9
Total	576,154	100

Table 2 Acuity-Assigned Cross-Tabulations Against Age-Group and Nationality

Acuity	1	2	3	4	5	Missing	Total
Age-group, years
0–10	182	3,348	56,558	74,282	16,888	2,546	153,804
11–20	85	1,050	20,652	42,316	8,765	797	73,665
21–30	246	4,175	53,124	51,990	11,267	2,196	122,998
31–40	299	4,123	48,310	38,348	8,061	1,905	101,046
41–50	313	2,836	25,633	16,179	2,897	714	48,572
51–60	292	2,205	16,478	9,957	1,751	464	31,147
61–70	262	1,566	11,239	7,399	1,299	471	22,236
71–80	152	1,099	6,731	3,963	573	294	12,812
80+	117	637	3,731	2,216	307	205	7,213
Missing	0	5	82	715	373	1,486	2,661
Total	1,948	21,044	242,538	247,365	52,181	11,078	576,154
Nationality
Emirati	410	6,814	91,061	203,371	42,752	8,105	352,513
Non-Emirati	1,538	14,230	151,477	43,994	9,429	2,973	223,641

Table 3 Agreement Between Assigned Acuity (3–5),and Triage Accuracy(based on Resources Consumed)

	n	Percentage
Acuity agreement
Matched	225,386	41.6
Unmatched	316,698	58.4
Total	542,084	100
Unmatched acuity
Over-triage	251,933	79.5
Under-triage	64,765	20.5
Total	316,698	100

Table 4 Cross-Tabulation: Acuity and Unmatched Triage

Acuity Assigned	Over-triage		Under-triage		Total
	n	Percentage	n	Percentage
3	104,761	100	0	0	104,761
4	147,172	72.7	55,302	27.3	202,474
5	0	0	9463	100	9,463

Table 5 Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis for Association of Triage Accuracy with Independent Patient Factors

	β (exponential)	p	R^2
Acuity level
3	1		0.14
4	0.274	0
5	0.178	0
Age-group, years
0–10	1		0.41
11–20	0.053	0
21–30	−0.063	0
31–40	−0.117	0
41–50	−0.099	0
51–60	−0.107	0
61–70	−0.087	0
71–80	−0.080	0
80+	−0.063	0

Figure 1 Median length of stay for different acuity levels.1:Acuity 1,2: Acuity 2, 3: Acuity 3, 4:Acuity 4,5 :Acuity 5