Tempos de espera para atendimento usando Sistema de Triagem de Manchester em um hospital de urgência

Abstract

The Manchester Triage System (MTS) is used by emergency health services to determine patients’ clinical priority, optimizing the waiting time for medical care. Studies that measure waiting times for medical care are scarce. Objective: To evaluate patients’ waiting times in a public emergency hospital. Method: this is a descriptive study performed on medical records of 68.215 patients in a Brazilian emergency hospital during 2014. Data was collected from the hospital`s electronic database. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using the software SPSS and R. Results: The waiting time between registration at reception and the beginning of triage had a mean of 12:23 minutes. The mean of the waiting time between the beginning of triage and its end was 2:06 minutes. Only 32.3% of patients classified as orange were seen by a doctor within ten minutes of being triaged. The majority (58.2%) of patients classified as yellow received medical care within 60 minutes of being triaged. In general, patients waited for 52:03 minutes on average between their arrival at the hospital and the first medical care they received. Conclusion: The nurses are triaging patients within the MTS recommended time. Most patients classified as orange and 41.8% of those classified as yellow had waiting times to receive medical care longer than the MTS` recommendations. This shows the need to establish assistance flows to reduce waiting times and comply with MTS recommendations.