[luv2shopp85]

Could someone please let me know what fast track is? I have an exam tomorrow on Trauma and for some reason I can't find the answer to this in my notes or my text books. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[CuttingEdgeRN]

Are you asking about an airway issue? Could mean the fast trach LMA? It is used for expected difficult intubations, inorder to ventilate the patient in between intubation attempts. Or maybe a triage term to get imediate care for a trauma patient? (You can tell I am an OR nurse, not and ER nurse! lol)

[luv2shopp85]

Sorry for not clarifying. I am talking about the Triage term... fast track.

I am trying to learn the difference between:

Non-urgent
Fast Track
Urgent
Emergent

If someone could help me out and clarify this for me id reallllly appreciate it!

[CuttingEdgeRN]

Try this forum posting I found in search:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f18/need...iage-3741.html

[CuttingEdgeRN]

Here's another:
fast trak - try to get the patient in and out in 1 hour.
non-urgent...RN monitor until MD can see.....
urgent...MD should see within 1 hour AND
Emergent...MD sees NOW
Came from this site: http://www.ucsf.edu/its/listserv/em-nsg-l/3821.html

[RunnerRN]

Ditto to the above posters. To qualify which patients would fall into which categories:
Non-urgent: suture removal, rabies vaccine
Fast Track: simple ortho injuries (xray and splint only), lac repair, many eye/ear pain issues
Urgent: Abd pain, cough, simple fever (not in young children or immunocompromised pts)
Emergent: Chest pain, large vag bleed, possible ectopic pregnancy, fever in young children/immunocompromised pts. We make all CP pts emergent....CP is cardiac until proven otherwise.

In my ED, we have a 5 level triage system (based on resources needed) with the above levels plus level 1 - RESUSCITATION. These are patients who, if interventions are not done immediately, will die. Technically, ectopics and some vag bleeds can fall in this category, but generally it is made up of codes, resp arrests, ODs, traumas.

Did I give you too much info?

[luv2shopp85]

So its kind of like this:

Emergency... must be SEEN NOW.. life or death situation
Urgent.. needs to be seen within the hour
Nonurgent... will just wait in line, theres no big emergency but does need to see a doctor

Then would fast track be considered a form of nonurgent? I think they told us in class that fast track can be seen in a dr's office. So you kind of want them in and out right? But would they be slower than nonurgent? Or just kind of like a branching off of nonurgent?

[luv2shopp85]

fast track you want them in and out in an hour be cause they are just taking up useful beds and are not emergecnys at all.. they can do to the dr's office. Correct?

[Jennifer, RN]

Fast track pts are non urgent pts that could be seen in a free standing clinic or "Urgent care". They usually consist of simple lac repairs, ear aches, tooth aches, cold symptoms (no vomiting), sprains/strains, back pain, migraines (with prior hx of migraines), itching, stds (no abd pain), etc.... Very minor, minor stuff. If a pt is placed in a fast track bed and then deemed to need a more complex workup, they are transferred to a bed on the more urgent side of the ER.

[Jennifer, RN]

Also meant to add: My ER has two sections, the Urgent side and the non-urgent (fast track) side. The urgent side usually has a longer wait time and stay time d/t the more complex workup (labs, xrays, ct, u/s, etc...). The fast track side has a shorter wait time d/t the shorter stay time. Pts generally are in and out within 2hrs. (vs the 4-8 hrs on the more urgent side). In the ER I work at, the doctors on the fast track side are more or less family doctors. No real critical ER experience. They do not take care of the classic ER pts with resp distress, trauma, etc.... Coming to the fast track side is like going to a doctors office.