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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