A symptom-checker for adult patients visiting an interdisciplinary emergency care center and the safety of patient self-triage: real-life prospective evaluation.

https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/symptom-checker-adult-patients-visiting-interdisciplinary-emergency-care-center-and-safety Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) are triaged to prioritize care based on level of illness. In this study, 2,543 patients presenting to an ED in Switzerland were asked to self-triage using an electronic symptom-checker. (Patients were triaged and treated based on standard-of-care nurse triage.) Recommendations were given regarding time to treat (e.g., emergency) and point-of-care (e.g., self-care) and subsequently evaluated by three panels of experts. Fifty of the 2,543 patients were judged as undertriaged, but none were judged as potentially hazardous.