Background:

The Canadian Triage and Severity Scale is being used in a growing number of Emergency Departments, however the medical literature shows several problems in its application. This study pretends to analyze the outcome of the implementation of this classification in the Emergency Department of the Hospital “Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia” regarding mortality and other variables.

Methods:

A comparative analysis was done on variables like mortality, daily consults, average stay and daily patient hours during a 14 week period before and after the implementation of the classification.

Results:

Significant negative trend was found in the case of daily consults and fast discharges of less than one hour, while significant positive trend was found in the average length of patient stay in the department and general mortality. No significant changes were present in the case of daily patient hours and deaths during the first 2 hours.

Conclusion:

The study shows the impact of the implementation of a classification system in an emergency department, associated with worrisome results like the elevation of mortality and average length of stay. It also suggests the need of a more complex triage approach in the management of an emergency department.