{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,15]],"date-time":"2025-12-15T14:14:23Z","timestamp":1765808063273,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: The early identification of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection is still a real challenge for emergency departments (ED). First, we aimed to develop a score, based on the use of the lung ultrasonography (LUS), in addition to the pre-triage interview, to correctly address patients; second, we aimed to prove the usefulness of a three-path organization (COVID-19, not-COVID-19 and intermediate) compared to a two-path organization (COVID-19, non-COVID-19). Methods: We retrospectively analysed 292 patients admitted to our ED from 10 April to 15 April 2020, with a definite diagnosis of positivity (93 COVID-19 patients) or negativity (179 not-COVID-19 patients) for SARS-COV-2 infection. Using a logistic regression, we found a set of predictors for infection selected from the pre-triage interview items and the LUS findings, which contribute with a different weight to the final score. Then, we compared the organization of two different pathways. Results: The most informative factors for classifying the patient are known nasopharyngeal swab positivity, close contact with a COVID-19 patient, fever associated with respiratory symptoms, respiratory failure, anosmia or dysgeusia, and the ultrasound criteria of diffuse alveolar interstitial syndrome, absence of B-lines and presence of pleural effusion. Their sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC-ROC are, respectively, 0.83, 0.81, 0.82 and 0.81. The most significant difference between the two pathways is the percentage of not-COVID-19 patients assigned to the COVID-19 area, that is, 10.6% (19\/179) in the three-path organization, and 18.9% (34\/179) in the two-path organization (p = 0.037). Conclusions: Our study suggests the possibility to use a score based on the pre-triage interview and the LUS findings to correctly manage the patients admitted to the ED, and the importance of an intermediate area to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the ED and, as a consequence, in the hospital.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19138070","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T20:53:02Z","timestamp":1656622382000},"page":"8070","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["From the Triage to the Intermediate Area: A Simple and Fast Model for COVID-19 in the Emergency Department"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Erika","family":"Poggiali","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2504-7043","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enrico","family":"Fabrizi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DISES & DSS, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Davide","family":"Bastoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Teresa","family":"Iannicelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Claudia","family":"Galluzzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chiara","family":"Canini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maria Grazia","family":"Cillis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Davide Giulio","family":"Ponzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Magnacavallo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Vercelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, \u201cGuglielmo da Saliceto\u201d Hospital, 29121 Piacenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, March 01). 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