Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale

CTAS is a tool that enables Emergency Departments to:

• Prioritize patient care requirements

• Examine patient care processes, workload, and resource requirements relative to case mix and community needs

The triage level assigned using the CTAS criteria is a mandatory data element to be used in all Canadian Hospital Emergency Departments for reporting to the Canadian Institute for Health Information
The CTAS allows ED nurses and physicians to:

• Triage patients according the type and severity of their presenting signs and symptoms

• Prioritizes patients when emergency department capacity has been exceeded

• Ensure that a patient’s need for care is reassessed while in the Emergency department