Comparative, cross-sectional study describing agreement and accuracy of emergency centre triage using either a mobile application or manual triage

dc.contributor.advisorGovender, Thashlinen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorKhan, Yaseenen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Global Health. Epidemiology and Biostatistics.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-09T13:59:06Z
dc.date.available2016-03-09T13:59:06Z
dc.date.issued2016-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH SUMMARY: Background and Purpose: Unacceptable patient waiting times and misidentification of critically ill patients are significant problems within Emergency Centres (ECs). Triage, when performed correctly, is acritical process to address this. The South African Triage Scale (SATS) is widely used. Manually performed triage may be prone to inaccuracies and prolonged triage time. A mobile tablet application to facilitate use of the SATS by automating triage calculation and guiding nurses has been developed. Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study to observe the accuracy of triage using the mobile tablet application compared with triage performed manually. Under classroom examination conditions, nurses calculated triage scores on written case scenarios of typical EC presentations. A total of 59 nurses across five hospitals in the Western Cape Province, South Africa were randomized into an ‘app group’ and a ‘manual group’. Results: The app group scored a 23% higher level of agreement with the expert-validated results than the manual group. Kappa of 0.735 (0.719 - 0.770) and 0.597 (0.545 - 0.656) were found respectively. One in five patients are triaged more correctly using the app. Sensitivity for emergency cases was 65.5% and 53% respectively, with and without the app. Conclusions: Nurses triaging written scenarios with the aid of the app were observed to have a higher agreement with the expert-validated results than nurses performing traditional manual triage. The effect size is considerable and of practical relevance. The app could have significant benefit in busy Emergency Centres of public sector hospitals. A larger study involving real patients is recommended.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMasters
dc.format.extent10 pages
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/98273
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch University
dc.subjectDecision support systemsen_ZA
dc.subjectArtificial intelligenceen_ZA
dc.subjectTriage (Medicine)en_ZA
dc.subjectUCTD
dc.titleComparative, cross-sectional study describing agreement and accuracy of emergency centre triage using either a mobile application or manual triageen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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