Emergency centre triage category allocations and their associated patient flow timeframes within a private healthcare group in the Middle East

Introduction: The classification of patients related to their acuity level is a complex task that requires not only quick, but accurate allocation. Triage system categories are related to specified timeframes in which a patient should be seen by a physician or treatment initiated. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the timeframes associated with the patient pathway in four emergency centres of a large private healthcare group in the United Arab Emirates. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted through the prospective capture and evaluation of medical records from patients triaged in each of the four ECs (two hospitals and two clinics) over a period of a month. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the timeframes associated with the patient pathway through each EC and contrasted against their allocated triage category. Results: A total of 4432 patient records were eligible for analysis from the four ECs. Triage category 4 (54.7%) was allocated the most with only a single category 1 patient seen between the four ECs. The median time from registration to triage was less than 10min, triage to physician consult less than 25min, with the overall length of stay of high acuity cases being 1h13 to 2h44 and low acuity cases being 32-49min. Overall time to physician was substantially lower than the targets set by the triage systems itself. Conclusion: This study has shown that in the private healthcare setting of this hospital group that patients of all acuities are attended to in a relatively short timeframe. These timeframes even exceed the expectations of the guidelines put forward by the triage systems in use. By shortening the time patients wait to see a physician and get appropriate treatment it will not only improve morbidity and mortality, it will improve the patient experience.