# Health Pods for Automated Triage Improve Efficiency and Satisfaction in Nurses and Patients
## 4 Discussion
(2) Another key point raised in the interviews of nurses is the situation of multiple visits to the ED. In this case, a quick evaluation of the patient's vital signs and the anamnestic questionnaire can identify the priorities. Currently, this process is stressful, and it is managed by the operator that attempts to carry out this screening with their first visual impression. The interviewed nurses estimate that the improvement rate for this situation is about a 30% reduction in time for the screening of multiple cases. This impact is even expected to increase. In fact, with the use of health pods in the future, this process would be automated and customized for specific access paths to triage (cardiovascular, traumatological, neurological, dermatological triage, etc. ); this differentiation could improve further the process and ensure that the proper decision is taken through a dedicated anamnestic questionnaire and validated decision support algorithms. These impact outcomes are consistent with findings that automated systems can ease operational burdens and improve care efficiency in crowded environments. Also, patients reported a very good satisfaction score regarding the experience and its ease of use. The analysis of demographic data allows us to draw some other comments. Apart from the previous consideration about the number of users belonging to different age ranges and related to pathology and high-risk coding, analysis of usage patterns revealed demographic trends, with higher usage among younger adults and lower engagement from elderly patients. These results imply that younger individuals may be more receptive to automated systems, while elderly patients might benefit from supportive options to foster ease of use. Indeed, some elderly patients were hesitant to use the health pod system, underscoring the need for alternative solutions tailored to specific patient demographics. This demographic trend suggests that while younger patients adapt quickly, additional support may be necessary to optimize engagement among older populations. A crucial point to design and apply these biomedical devices is related to the diverse patient scenarios that these systems can handle. Health pods for self-measurement of vital signs in ED setting are dedicated (and we tested) to the following categories of patients:  
* Patients without critical conditions (but usually, these patients arrive to the ED with an ambulance and are being already monitored),
* Patients with intact physical and cognitive abilities to undergo self-assessment of vital signs,
* Patients accompanied by relatives or people that can assist them in the self-assessment procedure in the health pod. Patients with rare symptoms or non-verbal communication--that are usually accompanied to the ED--enter in other procedural flows with the level of priority according to their status and assigned by the nurse. Integration challenges with existing hospital IT infrastructure limit real-time data flow, emphasizing the importance of seamless IT compatibility for optimizing the full potential of these systems. As self and automated triage solutions in the form of health pods, like the tested CAPSULA Triage version, become more widely integrated, future updates should address IT interoperability to improve data management.