Retrospective Chart Review of the Triage Algorithm for Psychiatric Screening (TAPS) for Patients Who Present to Emergency Departments With Psychiatric Chief Complaints

The results of this project represent a valuable step forward in improving the triage of adult patients who present to the emergency department with psychiatric chief complaints. A reproducible study of the TAPS method was the next practice step in determining feasibility. Use of the TAPS tool can be a method to decease costs and ED crowding. For research and quality improvement projects in the future, addiction chief complaints should be treated as a separate category from psychiatric or medical complaints, as they meet the criteria of both.Contribution to Emergency Nursing Practice
- The TAPS tool can be used reliably to rule out acute medical illness in patients with psychiatric chief complaints in community hospital settings with on-site inpatient psychiatric units.
- The TAPS tool appropriately identified low-acuity patients without significant medical illness (TAPS of 0).
- Addiction chief complaints was a confounding variable because these patients often had mental health complaints in addition to medical complaints. The TAPS tool is a simple and cost-effective tool to use in the emergency department during triage.
- The TAPS tool could be used in selected settings to expedite psychiatric care and reduce unnecessary laboratory testing.