BackgroundTelephone consultation and triage are used to limit the workload on emergency departments. Lack of visual cues and clinical tests put telephone consultations to a disadvantage compared to face-to-face consultations increasing the risk of under-triage. Under-triage occurs in telephone triage; however why under-triage happens is not explored yet. The aim of the study was to describe situations of under-triage in context, to assess the quality of under-triaged calls, and to identify communication patterns contributing to under-triage in a regional OOH service in the capital region of Denmark.MethodsExplanatory simultaneous mixed method with thematic analysis and descriptive statistics was chosen. The study was carried out in an Out-Of-Hours service (OOH) in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen. Under-triage was defined as Potentially Under-Triaged Calls (PUTC) by specific criteria to an OOH Hotline, and identification by integration of three databases: Medical Hotline database, Emergency number database, including the Ambulance database, and electronic patient records. Distribution of PUTC were carried out using ICD-10 codes to identify diagnosis and main themes identified by qualitative analysis of audio recorded under-triaged calls. Study period was October 15th to November 30th 2014.ResultsThree hundred twenty seven PUTC were identified, representing 0.04% of all calls (n = 937.056) to the OOH. Distribution of PUTC according to diagnoses was: digestive (24%), circulatory (19%), respiratory (15%) and all others (42%). Thematic analysis of the voice logs suggested that inadequate communication and non-normative symptom description contributed to under-triage.DiscussionThe incidence of potentially under-triage is low (0.04%). However, the over-representation of digestive, circulatory, and respiratory diagnoses might suggest that under-triage is related to inadequate symptom description. We recommend that caller and call-handler collaborate systematically on problem identification and negotiate non-normative symptom description.ConclusionThe incidence of under-triage is low (0.04%). However, the over-representation of digestive, circulatory, and respiratory diagnoses might suggest that under-triage is related to inadequate symptom description. We recommend that caller and call-handler collaborate systematically on problem identification and negotiate non-normative symptom description.

ConclusionCallers were able to rate their degree of worry. The degree of worry scale is feasible for largerscale studies if incorporating a patient-centred approach in out-of-hours telephone triage.

Background SARS-CoV-2 strains healthcare capacity. Better risk stratification, with discharge of patients with a predicted mild disease trajectory can ease this burden. Elevated blood soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) has previously been shown associated with risk of intubation in confirmed COVID-19 patients. Objective To evaluate if point-of-care measures of suPAR in patients presenting at the emergency department (ED) with symptoms of COVID-19 can identify patients that can be safely discharged. Methods Observational cohort study including all patients in the ED with symptoms of COVID-19 from March 19 th to April 3 rd , 2020. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor was measured at first presentation. Review of electronic patient records 14 days after admission were used to assess disease trajectory. Primary endpoints were mild, moderate, severe, or very severe trajectory. The predictive value of suPAR, National early warning score (NEWS), C-reactive protein (CRP), and duration of symptoms (DOS) was calculated using receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Results Of 386 patients, 171 (44%) patients had a mild disease trajectory, 79 (20%) a moderate, 63 (16%) a severe, and 73 (19%) a very severe disease trajectory. Low suPAR was a strong marker of mild disease trajectory. Results suggest a cut-off for discharge for suPAR<2.0 ng/ml if suPAR is used as a single parameter, and 3.0 ng/ml when combined with NEWS=<4 and CRP<10 mg/l- Conclusion suPAR is a potential biomarker for triage and safe early discharge of patients with COVID-19 symptoms in the ED. suPAR can be used even before SARS-CoV-2 status is known.

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