Triage of the Patients on Presentation to an Emergency Department: Presentation of the Scale Elaborated by the French Society of Emergency Medicine - the FRENCH (FRench Emergency Nurses Classification in Hospital)

The French Society of Emergency Medicine (SFMU) has recommended the creation of a national scale for the triage of patients upon reception in emergency rooms which accounts for the differences between adults and children. The SFMU's evaluation and quality Committee first created a scale with five priority levels from 5 to 1 (least urgent to most urgent) based on the complexity/severity of symptoms. Then, level 3 was split into two additional levels (A and B) to prioritize patients referred by a physician and those with at least one comorbidity related to the reason for seeking care. FRENCH (FRench Emergency Nurses Classification in Hospital) scale therefore has six priority levels based on the reasons for care which corresponds to an average sorting that can vary depending on modulators. At each level, there would be a rational distribution of patient circuits and a maximum waiting time before medical care. A first evaluation of FRENCH has showed that it meets the objectives of triage by facilitating the identification of a complex/ severe emergency reliably and reproducibly. New assessments might be needed in other emergency departments to confirm its performance and promote its evolution.