Part 2 in the series revision of the Directing Physician Process

22-08-2023 -

by Mathilda Boer – Quality Officer

Triage criteria

An important document that explains the triage criteria is the Urgency Codes protocol.  A crucial part of the triage and therefore too crucial to limit it to a link. We would like to explain what we mean by the above triage criteria.

Based on the triage through the NTS, a triagist/doctor’s assistant comes up with an urgency code. There are a number of general triage criteria that play a role and can increase (⇑) or decrease (⇓) the urgency.

Contextual factors ⇑ or ⇓

Factors that influence the eventual urgencies are:

• Duration of the complaint and its course;
• Other diseases and medication use;
• Communication problems or unclear requests for help;
• No caregiving.

Risk groups ⇑

• Old age;
• Age under three months;
• Pregnant;
• Chronically ill;
• Patients with a weakened immune system (chemotherapy, AIDS);
• Recent surgery or admission;
• Inconsistent story/narrative doesn’t add up.
  • An example of this is a caregiver who emphasizes that he has concerns about the patient while he himself trivializes the complaints.

Alarms ⇑

What are red flags?

• Second contact;
• Severe pain, anxiety or agitation (this also applies to the environment that is seriously worried);
• Rapid deterioration of condition;
• Non-fluff feeling of the triagist.

In all the above situations, it is good to have the triage nurse adjust the urgency accordingly.

The new document Process Regiearts contains a lot of new information – are you curious? Check out the rewritten document HERE >>.

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