FOllow-up of LOW-acuity Patients After REdirection From a Swiss Emergency Department Using an Electronic TRIage Application

Summary

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a growing issue, affecting patient safety, healthcare quality, and hospital efficiency. One strategy to manage low-acuity patients is triage-based redirection, where patients with non-urgent conditions are offered the option to receive care at external medical facilities instead of the ED.

This monocentric, prospective observational study will be conducted at Fribourg Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland, and evaluates the impact of a new electronic triage and redirection system (Logibec Réorientation). The study compares two triage processes:

Current practice - Redirection based on the Swiss Emergency Triage Scale (SETS), limited to low-acuity patients (SETS 4).

New practice - Redirection using the Logibec software, allowing redirection of both low-acuity (SETS 4) and semi-urgent (SETS 3) patients based on predefined criteria.

The primary objective is to assess whether the new triage-based redirection reduces the number of ED consultations per patient within 48 hours of their initial visit.

Secondary outcomes include:

Number of consultations in the ED or other medical facilities within 7 days Rate of hospital admissions within 7 days Patient satisfaction with redirection Evolution of health literacy over 6 months Number of ED visits over 6 months Participants are adult patients (≥18 years old) classified as SETS 3-4 and identified as eligible for redirection by the Logibec software. Data will be collected through phone interviews and questionnaires over a 6-month follow-up period.

This study aims to improve triage efficiency, patient flow management, and healthcare accessibility, while ensuring patient safety in the redirection process.

Conditions

• Triage
• Low Acuity Patients
• Health Literacy Level
• Non-urgent Emergencies

Interventions

OTHER

intervention is the use of aTriage-Based Patient Redirection Using an Electronic Decision Support Toolin the emergency department (ED)

Name: Logibec Réorientation software-assisted triage and redirection Type: Decision support system for emergency triage Implementation: * Applied during patient triage in the emergency department * Assists in identifying low-acuity (SETS 4) and semi-urgent (SETS 3) patients eligible for redirection * Uses standardized inclusion/exclusion criteria to guide redirection decisions Comparator: Standard nurse-led triage and redirection based only on the Swiss Emergency Triage Scale (SETS) Key Distinction: * The investigated group receives Logibec-assisted triage and redirection. * The comparator group follows traditional nurse-led triage without electronic support, limiting redirection to SETS 4 patients only.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Fribourg

  collaborator OTHER

• Hôpital Fribourgeois

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Vincent Ribordy, Prof. · HFR-Fribourg Emergency Department, University of Fribourg

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-06-15

Primary Completion

2026-05-01

Completion

2026-06-30

Countries

• Switzerland

Study Locations