A Nationwide Survey of Korean Emergency Department Triage Systems and Scales

Abstract

Purpose: As a first step towards reform of the emergency medical service system, we aimed to assess the current status of our emergency department triage systems and illustrated the current status and problems of the Korean emergency department triage system. Methods: We conducted e-mail and telephone surveys of the triage officers of all 136 emergency medical centers in Korea. Results: All 136 emergency departments responded to the survey. In Korea, a triage scale derived from the ‘emergency symptoms based on the requirements of the Emergency Medical Service Act’ is the most-used triage scale. We identified factors showing significant association with use of verified triage vs. unverified scales, including level of triage scale, type of hospital, type of emergency department, perception of problems regarding the triage scale, educational performance, and number of annual visits. Conclusion: Results of our survey showed that in Korea various kinds of triage scale are in use and the reliability and validity of more than half of them are unverified. Reform of the Korean national triage system is in progress and our survey findings should be helpful in guiding reorganization of the national triage systems of many countries.