Abstract
The National Institute for Emergency Medicine specifies a criteria for triaging patients into five
levels according to the urgency of treatment needed. Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a five-level triage tool used worldwide that can rapidly assess patients, and is proved to be accurate and reliable.
However, no study in Thailand has confirmed CTAS as an initial predictor of the severity of patients. This
research aim study the correlation between CTAS level and early outcome of patients, including; 24-hour
mortality rate, intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate and rate of immediate life-saving interventions in
emergency department. Researchers conducted a retrospective observational study and reviewed medical
records from all patients presented to the ED and were triaged by using CTAS in August 2013. There
were 2,508 patients who were triaged by using CTAS and met the inclusion criteria. Five patients died in
24 hours after ED visit and CTAS levels were I and III in 4 (8.16 %) and 1 (0.12 %) patients, respectively. 84
patients were admitted to the ICU and theirs CTAS levels were ranged from I to IV in 18 (36.73 %), 47
(17.41 %), 17 (1.97 %) and 2 (0.17 %) patients, respectively. 115 of the patients received immediate lifesaving
interventions following their arrival and CTAS levels for these patients were from I to III in 29
(59.18 %), 59 (21.85 %) and 27 (3.12 %) patients, respectively. The differences were statistically significant
between each CTAS levels and each early outcomes of patients (p-value < 0.001), so the higher the patient’
s triage level, the higher the severity. Conclusion: Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) has a significant
correlation with early outcomes of patients, including 24-hour mortality rate, ICU admission rate and
rate of immediate life-saving intervention. Therefore, CTAS can be used as an effective five-level ED
triage tool.
