PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Improving the prioritization of children at the emergency department: Updating the Manchester Triage System using vital signs.

  • Joany M Zachariasse,
  • Ian K Maconochie,
  • Ruud G Nijman,
  • Susanne Greber-Platzer,
  • Frank J Smit,
  • Daan Nieboer,
  • Johan van der Lei,
  • Claudio F Alves,
  • Henriëtte A Moll

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246324
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 2
p. e0246324

Abstract

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BackgroundVital signs are used in emergency care settings in the first assessment of children to identify those that need immediate attention. We aimed to develop and validate vital sign based Manchester Triage System (MTS) discriminators to improve triage of children at the emergency department.Methods and findingsThe TrIAGE project is a prospective observational study based on electronic health record data from five European EDs (Netherlands (n = 2), United Kingdom, Austria, and Portugal). In the current study, we included 117,438 consecutive children ConclusionsSix new discriminators based on vital signs lead to a small but relevant increase in performance and should be implemented in the MTS.