• James Choi and Ilene Claudius.
• Children's Hospital Los Angeles and USC Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2006 Jun 1;22(6):412-4.

ObjectivesMany emergency departments do not perform pulse oximetry in triage, in spite of its potential for altering management decisions. We attempted to quantify the decrease in patient throughput time in a pediatric emergency department following the introduction of triage pulse oximetry.MethodsOne hundred fifty-nine bronchiolitis patients from 2004 served as the preintervention group, and were evaluated against 89 severity-matched postintervention bronchiolitis patients from 2005. Their mean lengths of ED stay were compared by a t test.ResultsThe preintervention group had a mean length of stay of 4 hours and 59 minutes, and the postintervention group had a mean length of stay of 4 hours and 9 minutes, which was significantly different (P = 0.03). The sensitivity of respiratory distress on the triage exam for predicting hypoxia was fair (74%).ConclusionsInstitution of triage pulse oximetry significantly decreases ED throughput times. Clinical exam alone is not a replacement for measurement of oxygen saturation.

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