National Survey of Triage Methods in Pediatric Emergency Departments

Aims: The simultaneous visits of patients to the pediatric emergency department (ED) requires the use of a triage process to determine the priority of care for incoming patients based on the severity of their illnesses. To date, there is no data on the different triage methods used in the pediatric ED in France. The main objective was to describe triage practices in the pediatric ED in France. Procedure: 112 questionnaires were sent by postal mail to physicians responsible for pediatric ED in May 2009. Results: From the 112 departments that were invited, 93 (83%) accepted to participate: 61 (66%) used a triage method in children. A triage-nurse was declared in 45 (48%) centers. Most of the time this nurse had little experience and had not received specific triage training. The triage was done in an intuitive way in 29 (48%) departments, with a validated scale in 9 (15%) departments and with a local scale in 23 (38%) departments. Responders reported that in 12 (20%) departments the adequacy and effectiveness of nurse triage practice had been assessed. Most departments declared to use four levels of triage associated with a delay of care. Conclusion: These results do not meet the French SFMU recommendations. The implementation of a validated tool to help with pediatric triage seems essential to ED to improve the quality of triage.