Evaluation of a veterinary triage list modified from a human five-point triage system in 485 dogs and cats

Objectives To devise a veterinary triage list (VTL) and to determine whether the application of this VTL results in more accurate categorization of emergency patients compared with intuitive triage. Design Prospective and retrospective observational study. Setting Private veterinary emergency clinic. Animals Four hundred and eighty-five client-owned dogs and cats. Interventions None. Measurements and main results A VTL was composed using a human triage system and data from medical records of the study group. Target waiting times were prospectively determined using intuition by veterinary nurses (TWT-N). similar to Target waiting times were subsequently determined retrospectively by the use of the VTL (TWT-VTL). similar to Both TWT-N and TWT-VTL were compared against target waiting times determined by a review team (TWT-R), which was considered the gold standard. TWT categories included 0, 15, 3060, and 120 minutes, and were associated with triage categories red, orange, yellow, and green, respectively. Differences in agreement were tested for significance. One hundred and eighty-five dogs and 300 cats fulfilled the inclusion criteria. TWT-N and TWT-R agreed on 30 cases of 67 (44.8%) in triage category red and 22 of 89 (24.7%) in category orange. TWT-VTL and TWT-R agreed on 64 cases of 67 (95.5%) in category red and 75 of 89 (84.3%) in category orange. Agreement between TWT-VTL and TWT-R (Pearson's R = 0.848) was significantly greater (P < 0.001) than agreement between TWT-N and TWT-R (Pearson's R = 0.519). Conclusions Intuitive triage performed by veterinary nurses showed significantly less correlation with TWT-R than triage performed with the VTL. A short physical examination in all emergency patients appears to be essential in recognizing critical disease. The use of a standardized VTL can help to categorize veterinary emergency patients.