The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale for Children; A Prospective Multi-Center Evaluation. (PERC CTAS)

August 4, 2011 updated by: St. Justine's Hospital
The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity and the reproducibility of the canadian triage and acuity scale when applied by regular nurses for the triage of children in the Emergency Department.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The role of triage in the Emergency Department (ED) is to assign high priority to patients who need urgent care while identifying patients that may be able to wait safely. The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a triage tool constructed from a consensus of experts that is universally used in Canada. Until now, there has been no evaluation of the validity of the tool for children in a clinical context. Also, its inter-rater reproducibility has not been evaluated. The expected implementation of a revised version of the Canadian triage tool in 2008 would be an ideal moment to evaluate its validity and reproducibility. Specific objective: 1. To evaluate the validity of the CTAS for children visiting a pediatric ED and 2. To measure the inter-rater agreement for nurses using the CTAS in these settings.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1464

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
      • Quebec, Canada, G1V 4G2
        • Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval
    • Alberta
      • Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T3B 6A8
        • Alberta Children's Hospital
      • Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2C8
        • Stollery Children's Hospital
    • British Columbia
      • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6H 3V4
        • BC Children's and Women's Hospital
    • Nova Scotia
      • Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3K 6R8
        • IWK Heath Centre
    • Ontario
      • London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 4G5
        • Children's Hospital of Western Ontario
      • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 8L1
        • Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X8
        • The Hospital for Sick Children
    • Quebec
      • Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3T 1C5
        • CHU Sainte-Justine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All children presenting to a pediatric emergency department

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Every patient younger than 18 years old that presents to the ED will be eligible except for those that need to go directly to the resuscitation room (triage level 1)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • For ethical reasons, patients that need an immediate treatment will not be recruited in the study.
  • Patients for whom an informed consent could not be obtained (example: insurmountable language barriers) will not be included.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
level 2
Patients triaged level 2
level 3
patients triaged level 3
level 4
patients triaged level 4
level 5
patients triaged level 5

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
The inter-rater agreement between the two nurses measured by the weighted Kappa score
Time Frame: 15 minutes
15 minutes
The correlation between triage level and the hospitalisation rate
Time Frame: 1 day
1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
The correlation between triage level and admission to the intensive care unit
Time Frame: 1 day
1 day
The correlation between triage level and length of stay in the ED after being seen by a physician
Time Frame: 1 day
1 day
The correlation between triage level and resources use
Time Frame: 1 day
1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

St. Justine's Hospital

Collaborators

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
SickKids Foundation

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jocelyn Gravel, MD, St. Justine's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 10, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

December 11, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 5, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2011

Last Verified

July 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PERC CTAS
  • Grant No. XG09-049R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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