New Color Added to Triage System to Address Non-Critical Patient 'Blues'
Four hospitals have agreed to tweak the system of evaluating emergency room patients, adding a fifth color to the system for assessing the severity of a patient’s condition.
The move is a result of overcrowding in ERs, as many people visit emergency rooms to bypass long waiting times for GPs or specialists.
Under the new system, a nurse will determine the level of danger to a patient's health using a five color system of red, orange, yellow, green and blue, reported Raepress, Tallinn's press service.
The previous structure had four levels, with the blue category being the new addition.
Patients in categories under red will have immediate access to a doctor, 'orange' patients will have to wait up to 15 minutes. Sufferers labeled yellow could wait up to one hour, those deemed to have less life-threatening medical problems can wait up to three (labeled green) and six hours (blue).
“Often the people in the last category [blue] are patients whose medical needs can wait for a visit to their general practitioner,” Raepress said.
The system is already in place in the North Estonia Medical Center, while the three other hospitals - Tallinn Children's Hospital, East-Tallinn Central Hospital and West-Tallinn Central Hospital - will implement the system in the second quarter.
The new system came as an agreement between the hospitals and a union of Tallinn's GPs.
“Now it is very important the information reaches patients fast, and GPs and nurses should explain to patients in what cases they should visit an ER and when they should avoid the long wait in emergency rooms and turn to GPs instead,” said one of Tallinn's deputy mayors, Merike Martinson.