Emergency department patient triage

The use of digital technologies for self-streaming in emergency departments is set to rise, amid reports that the NHS four-hour A&E target has not been met nationally since 2015.

It’s a similar picture in most developed countries with emergency departments facing increases in attendances, without any comparable increase in staff or resources.

Developed for the NHS and proven at hospitals in Canada, Sweden and Northern Ireland, Savience’s solution employs self-service kiosks to sort urgent and non-urgent cases. On arrival, patients are presented with a touchscreen and series of questions to separate cases and route people to the appropriate care point.

This self-streaming frees emergency care teams to focus on the most serious and urgent cases, while less urgent cases are referred to more appropriate resources.

With patient details available instantly, emergency care teams can prioritise workloads, plan clinical workflows and prepare for a patient’s arrival. Users report fewer delays, less downtime, smoother workflows and greater patient satisfaction.

The actual streams are governed by rules set by the individual hospital according to local policies, type of presenting injury or illness and availability of resources.