Assessing the validity of the Triage Risk Screening Tool in a third world setting

Abstract

Background: Social risk is rarely evaluated in older emergency department (ED) patients, although its identification can reduce re-attendance. Objectives: This study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the Triage Risk Screening Tool (TRST) in the ED of a developing country.

Methods: The diagnostic accuracy of TRST to detect elders at risk was compared to routine clinical evaluation, using a comprehensive evaluation by an experienced social worker as the ‘gold standard’. The inter-rater reliability of the TRST was assessed on a separate cohort of patients prior to the main study.

Results: The sensitivity of the TRST was 94.7% vs 55.6% for physician assessment (p = 0.025). The TRST had good inter-rater reliability (Cohen’ Kappa = .882), and physicians found it easy to use. Conclusion: The TRST provides a rapid means of assessing risk in older ED attenders. This study confirmed the validity of this screening tool in a third world setting.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:	Lalla, R. Sammy, I.A. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4265-5569 Paul, J.F. Nunes, P. Robertson, P. Ramcharitar Maharaj, V.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords:	Aged; Risk Assessment; Triage; Emergency Department
Dates:	Accepted: 22 May 2017 Published (online): 8 August 2017 Published: February 2018
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	07 Jul 2017 15:17
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2023 16:32
Status:	Published
Publisher:	SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060517714935

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Assessing the validity of the Triage Risk Screening Tool in a third world setting

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