TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Validation of a novel irritant gas syndrome triage algorithm
JO  - American journal of disaster medicine
A1  - Culley, Joan M.
A1  - Donevant, Sara
A1  - Craig, Jean
A1  - Richter, Jane
A1  - Tavakoli, Abbas S.
A1  - Svendsen, Erik R.
A1  - DiNardi, Salvatore
SP  - 13
EP  - 26
VL  - 13
IS  - 1
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to validate a novel irritant gas syndrome agent (IGSA) triage algorithm for use in an emergency department (ED). We assessed efficiency, accuracy, and precision of our IGSA triage algorithm based on signs/symptoms of actual patients. <br><br>DESIGN: After characterizing the signs/symptoms of an actual IGSA exposure event, we developed and validated the IGSA triage algorithm using a simulated computer exercise to compare the IGSA triage algorithm to the preferred hospital triage algorithm, the Emergency Severity Index (ESI). SETTING: This study was a simulated computer exercise using surveys developed in Research Electronic Data Capture software. Nurse volunteers simulated triaging 298 patients. PARTICIPANTS: Patient data included 146 patients treated during the disaster as well as 152 unexposed patients. Twenty-six nurse volunteers were assigned to triage the patients using one of the algorithms in the simulated computer exercise. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The precision of the IGSA triage algorithm was 0.82 (confidence interval [CI] 0.78-0.85) and ESI 0.73 (CI 0.69-0.77). Weighted κ for ESI and IGSA accuracy for exposed patients was 0.32 (95% CI 0.26-0.37) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.77-0.85), respectively. <br><br>RESULTS: The IGSA triage algorithm was more accurate and precise than the ESI algorithm for triaging patients exposed to an irritant gas. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: This study validates the IGSA triage algorithm as the basis for the development of a prototype software application to quickly identify victims of a chemical disaster and triage patients efficiently and accurately with the potential to dramatically improve the processing of patients in EDs.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1932-149X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5055/ajdm.2018.0284
ID  - ref1
ER  -