Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Acad Emerg Med
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Comparative Study
Comparison of the medical priority dispatch system to an out-of-hospital patient acuity score.
Although the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) is widely used by emergency medical services (EMS) dispatchers to determine dispatch priority, there is little evidence that it reflects patient acuity. The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a standard patient acuity scale widely used by Canadian emergency departments and EMS systems to prioritize patient care requirements. ⋯ The Medical Priority Dispatch System exhibits at least moderate sensitivity and specificity for detecting high acuity of illness or injury. This performance analysis may be used to identify target protocols for future improvements.