Assessment and triage: waiting time of low severity users

Abstract

Aim: to identify if the time between the risk assessment and medical care for less severe patient was in accordance with institutional protocol. Method: cross-sectional descriptive study performed in the emergency department of a scholastic public hospital of high complexity, from March to June 2012. The sample consisted of 172 patients, aged starting from 12 years, ranked in colors: yellow, green and blue, according to protocol of the institution. Results: according to the institutional protocol 66.00% of patients were classified in the color green. It was observed that the average waiting time, measure in minutes, was within the recommended rating of the three colors: Yellow 40.68, green and blue 53.76 and 69.06. Conclusion: the average waiting time for medical care did not exceed that recommended by the emergency service protocol in any of the classification of colors