Using the South African Triage Scale for prehospital triage: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Triage is a critical component of prehospital emergency care. Effective triage of patients allows them to receive appropriate care and to judiciously use personnel and hospital resources. In many low-resource settings prehospital triage serves an additional role of determining the level of destination facility. In South Africa, the Western Cape Government innovatively implemented the South African Triage Scale (SATS) in the public Emergency Medical Services (EMS) service in 2012. The prehospital provider perspectives and experiences of using SATS in the field have not been previously studied.

Methods

In this qualitative study, focus group discussions with cohorts of basic, intermediate and advanced life support prehospital providers were conducted and transcribed.

SUBMITTER: Dixon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556887 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature