Manchester System: time spent on risk classification and priority of care at an emergency medical serviceObjective To assess the time before and time spent on risk classification, priority of care, and destination of patients within 24 hours after their admission to an emergency medical service.
Methods Retrospective cohort study that included adults classified by the Manchester Triage System at the largest emergency medical service in the south of the country in 2012. The data were made available in the form of an electronic sheet and analyzed according to their characteristics and distribution.
Results Of the 139,556 admissions, half of the patients arrived at classification within the time recommended (7; IQR: 2-20 minutes), and were classified within two (IQR: 1-3) minutes. Lower priority classifications and hospital discharges (88.4%) were more frequent than hospitalizations (11.4%) and deaths (0.2%).
Conclusion The time involved in activities that precede the first medical care remained within the recommendation. The proportion of lower priority classifications and hospital discharges within 24 hours after classification was high.
Nursing service, hospital; Triage; Nursing; Health management; Emergencies
Source: Research data, 2014.*Equal letters correspond to categories of risk classification’s priority (colors) with times between the arrival of patients at the emergency medical service until the conclusion of risk classification with equal medians. Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test with adjustment of the Bonferroni correction (p<0.05).