Sick or Not Sick through a Sniff - EtCO2 at Triage

TamingtheSRU

Boarding of admitted patients in the ED and subsequent overcrowding of ED’s continues to plague hospitals in the United States and Internationally. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated an already growing problem regarding capacity management and patient flow. In this current climate, the Emergency Physician’s responsibilities continue to shift toward the front-end of the process, mainly patients waiting to be seen in the lobby. As such, identifying sick patients in a timely manner and utilizing additional resources to predict patients at risk of clinical deterioration will be paramount moving forward. This recap covers a paper that looks to see if EtCO2 can play a bigger and better role in the triage process