optimiSed PAtient Flow using prEhoSpital Triage (safest)
Grant ID: EMPF-08R01-2022-LOUDON
Project Summary
There have been significant increases in system pressure for unscheduled public healthcare in Australia. Likewise, ambulance services have seen an unprecedented increase in demand for services along with a change in ambulance utilization. These pressures affect all aspects of patient flow, from triple zero call through to hospital admission and discharge. Improvements in the integration of prehospital services into the healthcare system can reduce time delays at their interface. Triage and clinical deterioration tools guide clinicians' decisions when directing patients to clinical streams within the emergency department whilst balancing patient safety. Paramedics are highly trained clinicians, that are well placed to assess and determine a patient’s clinical priority and potential for deterioration. If paramedics can demonstrate their application of validated triage and clinical deterioration tools to efficiently and safely direct patients to the most appropriate facility and/or clinical stream within a facility, then there would be potential time savings across the system. Furthermore, this would provide a validated tool to identify patients that are safe to be referred to the virtual emergency department. This study proposes to assess paramedics' ability to apply triage and clinical deterioration tools to identify the clinical stream either within an emergency department or via the virtual emergency department. If successful, this process could improve patient safety while reducing delays at the ambulance and emergency department interface.
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