Can J Emerg Med
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To assess the performance of the newly implemented Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) triage system in a redesigned 200-bed community hospital emergency department (ED) and to evaluate the predictive validity of CTAS in this setting. ⋯ The CTAS is adaptable to countries beyond Canada and its operating objectives are achievable. Time to triage and fractile response rates can be considered indicators of triage quality and ED performance. CTAS is a valid instrument for predicting admission rates, hospital LOS and diagnostic utilization.
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Reviews of the medical literature have always been an important resource for physicians. Increasingly, qualitative and quantitative "systematic reviews" have replaced the traditional "narrative review" as a means of capturing and summarizing current evidence on a topic or, when possible, answering a specific clinical question. ⋯ To facilitate readability, examples from the emergency medicine literature have been included for illustrative purposes and technical details have been kept to a minimum. The references, however, are comprehensive and provide a resource for readers seeking further information.