Validity of the emergency severity index in predicting patient outcomes in a major emergency department

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The emergency severity index (ESI) triage system has been recommended by the Ministry of Healthto classify patients at emergency departments. This study aimed to assess the validity of ESI system (version 4) in the emergencydepartment of a teaching hospital. Outcome measures were hospitalization, emergency department (ED) length of stay, resourceconsumption, in-hospital mortality, and patient service costs.Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, medical records of 562 ED patients were reviewed to determine the ESI level andoutcome measures in April 2013. Possible correlations were assessed using Phi and Cramer's V and Spearman's Rho. Data analysis wasperformed in SPSS V.16, and P value of 0.05 was considered significant.Results: In this study, frequency of five ESI levels (1-5) was 24, 14, 365, 158 and 0, respectively. In addition, Phi and Cramer’s V forhospitalization and mortality were 0.350 (P