Triaging and referring in adjacent general and emergency departments (the TRIAGE trial): A cluster randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To determine whether a new triage system safely diverts a proportion of emergency department (ED) patients to a general practitioner cooperative (GPC).

Methods

Unblinded randomised controlled trial with weekends serving as clusters (three intervention clusters for each control). The intervention was triage by a nurse using a new extension to the Manchester Triage System assigning low-risk patients to the GPC. During intervention weekends, patients were encouraged to follow this assignment; it was not communicated during control weekends (all patients remained at the ED). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients assigned to and handled by the GPC during intervention weekends. The trial was randomised for the secondary outcome: the proportion of patients a

SUBMITTER: Morreel S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8565772 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature