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Original Article
Repeatability of the Manchester Triage System for children
  1. M van Veen1,
  2. V F M Teunen-van der Walle2,
  3. E W Steyerberg3,
  4. A H J van Meurs2,
  5. M Ruige2,
  6. T D Strout4,
  7. J van der Lei5,
  8. H A Moll1
  1. 1Department of Paediatrics, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  2. 2Department of Paediatrics, Haga Hospital, Juliana Children's Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands
  3. 3Center for Medical Decision Making, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  4. 4Maine Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Portland, Maine, USA
  5. 5Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Professor Henriette A Moll, Department of Paediatrics, Room Sp 1540, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Rotterdam, PO Box 2060, 3000 CB Rotterdam, The Netherlands; h.a.moll{at}erasmusmc.nl

Abstract

Objective The authors aimed to assess the repeatability of the Manchester Triage System (MTS) in children.

Methods All emergency department nurses (n=43) from a general teaching hospital and a university children's hospital in The Netherlands triaged 20 written case scenarios using the Manchester Triage system. Second, at two emergency departments (EDs), real-life simultaneous triage of patients (<16 years) was performed by ED nurses and two research nurses. The written case scenarios and the patients included in the real-life simultaneous triage study were representative of children attending the ED, in age, problem and urgency level. The authors assessed inter-rater agreement using quadratic weighted kappa values.

Results The weighted kappa between the nurses, triaging the case scenarios, was 0.83 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.91). In total, 88% (N=198) of the eligible ED patients were triaged simultaneously, with a weighted κ of 0.65 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.72).

Conclusions The MTS showed good to very good repeatability in paediatric emergency care.

  • Triage
  • emergency service
  • hospital
  • children
  • repeatability
  • reliability
  • emergency care systems
  • nursing
  • emergency departments
  • paediatrics

https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.2009.077750

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    Footnotes

    • Funding This study was financially supported by Zon-MW, The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, and Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.