On Tuesday, an agreement was signed by North-Estonian Regional Hospital, Tallinn Children’s Hospital, East-Tallinn Central Hospital and West-Tallinn Central Hospital on principles of treatment of patients at accident and emergency medicine departments (A&E).
From now on, the hospitals, all located in Tallinn, will base their practice on common principles, also introduced to Tallinn Society of Family Physicians. The patient’s condition will be assessed by triage categories, determining how fast the person needs to get to the doctor.
Upon patient’s arrival, the triage nurse will assess objective vital signs and complaints of the patient. Triage needs to be conducted as quickly as possible, preferably within 15 minutes from arrival at the hospital A&E department.
«The principles are based on international guidelines analysed in practise of Tallinn hospitals,» said regional hospital’s chief doctor Sergei Nazarenko.
In accordance with the patient’s condition, a triage category will be applied: red, orange, yellow, green or blue. Based on the code, a patient will either receive immediate help or will have to wait up to six hours.