Identification of low-acuity attendances in routine clinical information documented in German Emergency Departments

Table 1 Data items derived from the scientific literature and expert consens. Respective data values for identification of high and low-acuity presentations are shown

Data item	High-acuity ED presentation	Low-acuity ED presentation
Disposition	admitted or transferred to another hospital	non-admitted
Survival	died	did not die
Mode of arrival to the ED	emergency ambulance/ helicopter/ physician-led medical transport	others or not known
Triage category (MTS, ESI)	1–3	4/ 5 or not known
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)	GCS < 15	GCS = 15 or not known
Pain scale (VAS, NRS)	> 5	≤ 5
Respiratory rate per min	< 10 or > 20	10–20
Systolic blood pressure in mmHg	< 90 or > 140	90—140
Body temperature in °C	< 36.3 or > 37.4	36.3 – 37.4
Oxygen saturation in %	< 95	95—100
Heart rate per min	< 60 or > 100	60—100
Imaging performed in the ED	At least one imaging performed in the ED	No imaging performed in the ED
ED-diagnosis	-	list of diagnosis according to Borland [24]

Legend Table 1: Imaging refers to all diagnostic imaging procedures performed in the ED including x-ray, sonography, MRT, CT
Abbreviation: CT Computer tomography, ED Emergency department, ESI Emergency Severity Index, GCS Glasgow Coma Scale, MRT Magnetic resonance tomography, MTS Manchester Triage Scale, NRS Numeric rating scale, VAS Visual analogue scale

ISSN: 1471-227X