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A New Quantitative Triage System for Hospitalized Neonates to Assist with Decisions of Hospital Evacuation Priorities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2022

Kazunori Imai Open the ORCID record for Kazunori Imai [Opens in a new window] ,
Tomoko Suzuki ,
Satoko Fukaya ,
Yuko Karasawa ,
Yoko Bando ,
Daisuke Sawaki ,
Yuko Araki ,
Shinji Saitoh  and
Osuke Iwata
Kazunori Imai*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan Clinical Department of Emergency Medicine, Nagoya City University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan
Tomoko Suzuki
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan
Satoko Fukaya
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan
Yuko Karasawa
Affiliation:
Nursing Department, Nagoya City University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan
Yoko Bando
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan
Daisuke Sawaki
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan
Yuko Araki
Affiliation:
Department of Informatics, Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan
Shinji Saitoh
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan
Osuke Iwata
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan
*
Correspondence: Kazunori Imai, Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1-Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 467-0001, Japan, E-mail: k.imai@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
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Abstract

Introduction:

Hospitalized neonates are vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters because of their persistent requirement for medical resources and may need to be evacuated to safe locations when electricity and medical gas supply become unreliable. In Japan, a triage system for hospitalized neonates, or the Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment for Neonates, Revised (START-Neo-R), has been used to determine whether neonates are in suitable conditions for transportation. However, this scale is not useful to determine the evacuation order of neonates because a considerable number of evacuees are classified into the same categories.

Study Objective:

To solve this problem, a novel triage system, Neonatal Extrication Triage (NEXT) was developed. This study tested the validity and reproducibility of both triages and compared them with a standardized prognostic scoring system for hospitalized neonates, the Neonatal Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (NTISS).

Methods:

In this retrospective observational study, physicians and nurses independently assessed each neonate hospitalized at a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) twice weekly using NEXT and START-Neo-R. The NEXT system comprises six questionnaires regarding medical resources required during transition and transportation, providing composite scores on a 12-point scale. The START-Neo-R classified neonates into five levels based on the severity of disease and dependence on medical care. Inter-rater reliability of both systems was assessed using Cohen’s kappa coefficient, whereas the criterion validity with NTISS was assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient.

Results:

Overall, 162 neonates were assessed for 49 days, resulting in triage data for 1,079 accumulated patients. Both NEXT scores and START-Neo-R ranks were well-dispersed across different levels without excessive accumulation in specific categories. Inter-rater reliability of NEXT (kappa coefficient, 0.973; 95% confidence interval, 0.969-0.976) and START-Neo-R (kappa coefficient, 0.952; 95% confidence interval, 0.946-0.957) between physicians and nurses was sufficiently high. The correlation coefficient of NEXT and START-Neo-R scores with NTISS scores were 0.889 (P <.001) and 0.850 (P <.001), respectively.

Conclusions:

Both START-Neo-R and NEXT had good reproducibility and correlation with the severity of neonates indicated by NTISS. With its well-dispersed scores across different levels, the NEXT system might be a powerful tool to determine the priority of evacuation objectively.

Keywords

disasterevacuationneonatal intensive care unitneonatetriage
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 343 - 349
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine

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