The Reliability of the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale: Meta-analysis

Background: Although the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) have been developed since two decades ago, the reliability of the CTAS has not been questioned comparing to moderating variable.

Aims: The study was to provide a meta-analytic review of the reliability of the CTAS in order to reveal to what extent the CTAS is reliable.

Materials and methods: Electronic databases were searched to March 2014. Only studies were included that had reported samples size, reliability coefficients, adequate description of the CTAS reliability assessment. The guidelines for reporting reliability and agreement studies (GRRAS) were used. Two reviewers independently examined abstracts and extracted data. The effect size was obtained by the z-transformation of reliability coefficients. Data were pooled with random-effects models and meta-regression was done based on method of moments estimator.

Results: Fourteen studies were included. Pooled coefficient for the CTAS was substantial 0.672 (CI 95%: 0.599-0.735). Mistriage is less than 50%. Agreement upon the adult version, among nurse-physician and near countries is higher than pediatrics version, other raters and farther countries, respectively.

Conclusion: The CTAS showed acceptable level of overall reliability in the emergency department but need more development to reach almost perfect agreement.