Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale: testing the mental health categories

Figures & data

Table 1 Specialized mental health training or experience

Educational courses completed	Number of triage nurses	Percentage of nurses who completed the specified educational course
None	2	11.1
CTAs training	1	5.6
Regional triage orientation	1	5.6
Advanced emergency course	1	5.6
Other educational course	1	5.6
More than one educational course	12	66.7
Total	18	100.0

Abbreviation: CTAS, Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale.

Table 2 Triage nurses’ comfort level with mental health patient presentations

Presentation	Not at all comfortable	Mildly confident	Moderately confident	Very confident	Total
Triage of mental health patients	0	4	7	7	18
Psychotic symptoms	0	6	8	4	18
Manic symptoms	0	4	9	5	18
Anxiety	0	0	9	9	18
Depression	0	1	9	8	18
Suicidal ideation	0	1	10	7	18
Aggressive behaviors	0	4	9	5	18
Behavior/personality disorders	2	7	5	4	18

Table 3 Percentage correct by CTAS urgency level

CTAS urgency level	Number of scenarios	Number of correct responses	Number of responses	Percentage correct
1	2	27	36	75%
2	5	29	90	32.2%
3	6	71	108	65.7%
4	5	63	90	70%
5	2	4	36	11.1%

Note: The figures in bold represent the highest percentage correct by CTAS urgency level.

Abbreviation: CTAS, Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale.

Table 4 Accuracy, over-triage, and under-triage by one level

Scenario number	Correct answer	Percentage of correct responses (accuracy) n=18	Number of nurses who over-triaged by one level	Number of nurses who under-triaged by one level	Total n=18
1	3	72.2%	1	3	17
2	4	94%	1	0	18
3	2	22.2%	8	6	18
4	4	77.7%	4	0	18
5	2	22.2%	6	6	14
6	3	72.2%	3	2	18
7	4	94%	0	1	18
8	1	77.7%	0	4	18
9	2	38.8%	6	4	17
10	3	72.2%	3	1	17
11	3	61.1%	2	5	18
12	1	72.2%	0	2	15
13	2	44.4%	1	9	18
14	3	66.6%	0	6	18
15	4	77.7%	3	1	18
16	5	11.1%	11	0	13
17	5	11.1%	2	0	4
18	2	33.3%	0	9	15
19	3	50%	8	1	18
20	4	0.05%	14	0	15

Table 5 Use of second-order modifiers

Rater	Frequency of use of second-order modifiers (N=20)	Use of override when rating scenarios (N=20)	Percentage of correct responses
1	20 (100%)	0	70% (n= 14)
2	20 (100%)	0	55% (n= 11)
3	1 (5%)	8 (40%)	40% (n=8)
4	16 (80%)	0	60% (n= 12)
5	19 (95%)	2 (10%)	50% (n= 10)
6	14 (70%)	0	55% (n= 11)
7	20 (100%)	0	55% (n= 11)
8	15 (75%)	2 (10%)	65% (n= 13)
9	18 (90%)	0	60% (n= 12)
10	0	0	35% (n=7)
11	19 (95%)	0	55% (n= 11)
12	17 (85%)	0	65% (n= 13)
13	20 (100%)	0	55% (n= 11)
14	12 (60%)	3 (15%)	50% (n= 10)
15	19 (95%)	7 (35%)	35% (n=7)
16	20 (100%)	0	65% (n= 13)
17	20 (100%)	6 (30%)	55% (n= 11)
18	20 (100%)	0	45% (n=9)