The triage performance of emergency medical dispatch prioritisation compared to prehospital on-scene triage in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The emergency medical service (EMS) response is dependent on the emergency medical dispatch (EMD) and the operations response team to ensure that the patient receives the required EMS resources and treatment in the appropriate time. EMS resources must be dispatched to calls of appropriate patient acuity. Overtriage and undertriage impact the appropriate response and optimization of EMS resources and, most importantly, patient outcomes. This study examines overtriage and undertriage rates in ambulance dispatch operations in the Western Cape Government (WCG), South Africa.

Aim

Determine undertriage and overtriage rates of EMD priority allocation compared to on-scene ambulance triage.

Methods

This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted with data rec

SUBMITTER: Binks F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11887241 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature