Canadian XXXX Triage and Acuity Scale: implementation in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia.

@entity1 @entity341
BACKGROUND: The Canadian @entity341 Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a well recognized and validated triage system that prioritizes @entity1 care by severity of illness. The aim of this study was to describe the results of @entity341 ( @entity341 ) waiting times after the implementation of the CTAS in a major tertiary care hospital emergency department outside of Canada. METHODS: A total of 1206 charts were randomly selected and retrospectively reviewed for triage performance. The indicators were: time to triage, triage duration, waiting time to be evaluated by a physician, and proportion of @entity1 who left without being seen by a physician. Waiting times were stratified by triage level and reported as fractile response rates. RESULTS: The approximate time to triage was  <= 10 minutes for 71% and  <= 15 minutes for 82.8% of the @entity1 . Fifty-three percent (53.5%) completed their triage process within 5 minutes. Waiting times evaluated by a physician was 100% within CTAS time objectives in category I @entity1 , however, this was not the case for the other 4 categories. The overall left without being seen (LWBS) rate was 9.8%; 11.9% were in Level III, 20.3% in Level IV, and 67.8% in Level V. Median length of stay (LOS) was 144 minutes for the study sample as a whole. CONCLUSION: The CTAS may be adapted, with achievable objectives, in hospitals outside Canada as well. Time to see physician, total LOS, and LWBS are effective markers of @entity341 performance and the quality of triage. Registration-to-physician time (RTP) and LOS profiles, stratified by triage level, are essential indicative markers for @entity341 performance and should be used in improving @entity1 flow through collaborative efforts.
