Reporting vital parameters upon referral of patients to the emergency department needs to be improved

Background The purpose of triage is to prioritize patients and identify those who need immediate attention. Primary triage is attempted by the coordinating physician at the Emergency Department (ED) based primarily on the patient’s vital parameters (blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiration rate and body temperature) received by phone from the referring party, i.e. paramedics or general practitioners (GPs). Secondary triage of the patients is performed minutes after arrival to the ED by nurse or physician. Based on symptoms or by observations of vital parameters, patients are allocated to four different triage categories according to severity. Patients referred by paramedics are subject to basic observations of vital parameters that allow primary triage and subsequent ED preparedness. In this study we evaluated whether the information obtained in the conversation with GPs was sufficient to perform meaningful primary triage. Further, we wanted to elucidate the correlation between primary and secondary triage.