These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Triage decisions of emergency physicians in Kocaeli and the principle of justice.
    Author: Ersoy N, Akpinar A.
    Journal: Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg; 2010 May; 16(3):203-9. PubMed ID: 20517743.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: We aimed to examine the accuracy of triage decision-making among emergency physicians, using a multiple casualty scenario. This will assist in determining the necessity of triage training, which is the foundation of emergency medical ethics. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire including a multiple casualty scenario requiring each casualty to be prioritized for treatments by Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) was given to 110 emergency physicians working at pre-hospital and hospital emergency services in Kocaeli. The differences between personal/professional characteristics and triage decisions were analyzed using chi-square test. RESULTS: Accurate triage decision rates of the emergency physicians ranged from 83.6% to 90.0% for four immediate casualties, 26.4% to 78.2% for seven urgent casualties, 70.9% to 91.8% for four delayed casualties, and 82.7% to 97.3% for two dead cases. Personal and professional characteristics were found to be statistically significant in five cases (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that emergency physicians tended to under-triage patients. This result and the discrepancy of the accuracy rates in urgent casualties revealed the necessity for improvement in medical-ethical decision-making in the training programs. This improvement will help in reducing violation of the important duties of justice and of do no harm by the emergency physicians.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]