Objective:

Determine the usefulness of the Pediatric-Assessment-Triangle (PET), Pediatric-Early-Warning-System (PEWS) and SAVE A CHILD for the proper identification and initial rating of the severity of illness of children in Triage.

Material and methods:

Diagnostic test transversal study conducted in the Emergency Pediatric Room (EPR). Inclusion criteria: income from triage. Exclusion criteria: children already hospitalized, income from administrative case. Simple random sampling. It began with the classification by a Pediatrician in triage and allocation of severity (I-VI) by The Canadian Paediatric Scale (PaedCTAS) as a reference standard. Parallel data collection for PET, SAT and SAVE A CHILD. The data obtained were corroborated for a second pediatrician to provide definitive care.

Results:

1120 children were assessed; 560 were admitted directly from triage to bed EPR (84.6% classified as level I, II or III) and 560 initially reviewed in office triage (20.2% level II or III). We obtained as a diagnostic test for PaedCTAS, sensibity = 82%, specificity = 80%, LR+ = 4.16 (OR 4.99; p < 0.001); PET sensibity = 81%, specificity = 87%, LR+ = 5.2 (OR 92.3; p < 0.001 ); SAVE A CHILD sensibity = 90%, specificity = 85%, LR+ = 1.2 (OR 15.2; p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

The study showed that PET, PEWS and SAVE A CHILD were useful tools to identify and classify the severity initial of disease in triage. The best result was obtained when employed they were used together.