Traige At the Pediatric Emergency Unit: Association Between Triage Level and Clinical Outcome
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Date
2022
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Triage is a preliminary process of assessing Emergency to rapidly prioritize patients based on the level of their urgency and required treatment. A big challenge in pediatric triage is that children have a variety of presentations, and a critically ill child may appear stable and suddenly deteriorate. The Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) protocol is widely adopted in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) to reduce under five mortality and ensure the appropriate prioritization of care. However, few studies have examined whether triage level predicts clinical outcomes nationwide, and even less at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital (TASH), the largest referral hospital in the country. This study seeks to address this gap.
Objective: This research aims to study relationship between triage levels at the initial health care contact with clinical outcomes in TASH pediatric emergency.
Method: In this retrospective cross sectional study of children age above 7 days to 14 years, data was gathered from eligible medical records using structured questionnaire and then coded and entered using Epi Data version 4. 6. The SPSS version 25 was used for both descriptive statistics analysis and multi-variable logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was defined as a p-value less than 0.05, a 95% confidence interval.
Results: A total of 405 patients who were triaged between November 2025 and January 2026 were studied. Over 91% of patients fell into the Red or Orange categories, Cases triaged as Orange, accounted for 293 patients (72.3%), Red were 77 patients (19.0%) and Green comprised the smallest group, with 35 patients (8.6%). Among Red (emergency) patients, 32 (41.6%) were discharged home, 38 (49.4%) were admitted to the ward, 1 (1.3%) required ICU admission, and 6 (7.8%) died. In contrast, Orange (priority) patients were predominantly discharged (183, 62.5%) patients were admitted to the ward (103, 35.2%), with only 3 patients (1.0%) requiring ICU care and 4 patients (1.4%) died. Green (non-urgent) patients 28/35 were discharged, with a smaller proportion admitted to the ward (7, 20.0%) and no ICU admissions or deaths.
Conclusion: ETAT triage system strongly predicts outcome. While it is a reliable and clinically valuable tool in this context, optimal outcomes depend on both accurate triage and timely, system-supported clinical response.
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Keywords
Triage, Outcome, Admission, Discharge, Mortality, Association, Determinants of Death.