NRSG258 Acute Care: Australian Triage Scale Application & Analysis

This case study focuses on the application of the Australian Triage Scale (ATS) in assessing a patient named Matt who has sustained injuries from a quad bike accident. The ATS is a clinical tool used to prioritize patients in emergency departments based on the severity of their condition and the urgency of required treatment. The study explains the five categories of the ATS, ranging from immediate life-threatening conditions (ATS 1) to less urgent cases (ATS 5), and their corresponding performance indicator thresholds. Based on Matt's severe leg and head injuries, including a fractured tibia and fibula, and a neurological assessment score of 15, the case study concludes that Matt falls under the ATS 1 category, requiring immediate medical attention. The document references relevant academic sources to support the analysis and application of the ATS in this specific scenario. Desklib is a platform where students can find similar solved assignments and study resources.

Australian Triage Scale
(ATS)
Tool for patient assessment

What is ATS?
 The Australian Triage Scale or the ATS is a clinical tool which is being used to
determine the maximum waiting time that has been implemented for medical
assessments and treatment process of a patient.
 This system was developed back in 1980’s and was developed due to the chaos
developed while an emergency case arrived at hospitals (Australian College for
Emergency Medicine, 2018).
 the ATS system was not developed to move people away of the healthcare facility or
determine the importance of emergency ward in patient condition
 The prime aim of this system is to provide the patients admitted in the emergency
departments with priorities regarding their medical condition (Ebrahimi et al., 2015)

How patients are categorized?
Depending upon the Australasian Triage Scale, there are 5 categories of it the details of
which has been presented in the table below (Hodge et al., 2013).
Australasian Triage Scale
Category
Treatment Acuity Performance indicator threshold
ATS 1 Immediate 100%
ATS 2 10 minutes 80%
ATS 3 30 minutes 75%
ATS 4 60 minutes 70%
ATS 5 120 minutes 70%

What is Matt’s category
 the ATS condition 1 is the immediate and life threatening condition in which immediate
healthcare facility should be provided to the patient (Chamberlain et al., 2015)
 While driving the quad bike he met an accident and due to which he developed severe
leg and head injuries. The right leg x-ray determines that he has a fracture in his right
proximal trivia and fibula
 Further, according to the case study the neurological assessment, he achieves the
score of 15 that determines he will require immediate healthcare service to improve
his physical condition
 Hence according to these results, Matt also falls under the category 1 in the ATS scale.

References
Australian College for Emergency Medicine. (2018). ACEM - Triage. Acem.org.au.
Retrieved 9 April 2018, from https://acem.org.au/Content-Sources/Advancing-
Emergency-Medicine/Better-Outcomes-for-Patients/Triage.aspx
Chamberlain, D. J., Willis, E., Clark, R., & Brideson, G. (2015). Identification of the severe
sepsis patient at triage: a prospective analysis of the Australasian Triage Scale. Emerg
Med J, 32(9), 690-697.
Ebrahimi, M., Heydari, A., Mazlom, R., & Mirhaghi, A. (2015). The reliability of the
Australasian Triage Scale: a meta-analysis. World journal of emergency
medicine, 6(2), 94.
Hodge, A., Hugman, A., Varndell, W., & Howes, K. (2013). A review of the quality
assurance processes for the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) and implications for
future practice. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal, 16(1), 21-29.