The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale for Children; A Prospective Multi-Center Evaluation.

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity and the reproducibility of the canadian triage and acuity scale when applied by regular nurses for the triage of children in the Emergency Department.

Detailed Description
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The role of triage in the Emergency Department (ED) is to assign high priority to patients who need urgent care while identifying patients that may be able to wait safely. The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a triage tool constructed from a consensus of experts that is universally used in Canada. Until now, there has been no evaluation of the validity of the tool for children in a clinical context. Also, its inter-rater reproducibility has not been evaluated. The expected implementation of a revised version of the Canadian triage tool in 2008 would be an ideal moment to evaluate its validity and reproducibility. Specific objective: 1. To evaluate the validity of the CTAS for children visiting a pediatric ED and 2. To measure the inter-rater agreement for nurses using the CTAS in these settings.

Official Title
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The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale for Children; A Prospective Multi-Center Evaluation.

Conditions
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Triage, Pediatrics

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Every patient younger than 18 years old that presents to the ED will be eligible except for those that need to go directly to the resuscitation room (triage level 1) Exclusion Criteria: For ethical reasons, patients that need an immediate treatment will not be recruited in the study. Patients for whom an informed consent could not be obtained (example: insurmountable language barriers) will not be included.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Maximum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| level 2<br>Patients triaged level 2 | |
| level 3<br>patients triaged level 3 | |
| level 4<br>patients triaged level 4 | |
| level 5<br>patients triaged level 5 | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The inter-rater agreement between the two nurses measured by the weighted Kappa score |  | 15 minutes | 
| The correlation between triage level and the hospitalisation rate |  | 1 day | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The correlation between triage level and admission to the intensive care unit |  | 1 day | 
| The correlation between triage level and length of stay in the ED after being seen by a physician |  | 1 day | 
| The correlation between triage level and resources use |  | 1 day | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Triage, Pediatrics, Emergency Department