Table 1 The 5 (five) scale groups from A to E used at Peijas and Jorvi ED The impact of introducing

the ABCDE-triage tool in emergency services was enhanced by increasing simultaneously the education of the staff in EDs and the publicity about the issue. A discussion was also raised in the media around these services and information Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was delivered both to professionals and the public outside EDs. The main message to the public was that those who require immediate medical help should come to EDs but EDs are not overflow services of this website office-hour services. Guidelines were written for the staff about triage. The staff also got training and encouragement by the project workers and leaders. The training was arranged for public health care inside EDs and in office-hour services. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Altogether 60 nurses were trained in four 4-hour seminars in primary care EDs to perform the triage. The general public was informed of the project through the media, and all the information focused on the transparency of the system. Necessary data was also available via Internet, and both the public and staff had access to the internet pages of the campaign http://www.hus.fi/default.asp?path=1,32,660,546,570,4384,6950,6956,11437. All related material

was, and is still, available at this page. Local print media, radio and bulletins were also used. About thirty articles were published in both Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical national and local newspapers. Posters and leaflets about the project were delivered to the patients in EDs and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in office-hour services. The aim of the project group was to publish as much information as possible related to the changes to keep

the population, all organizations associated with the project and the staff fully informed. The objective of this information campaign was to guide non-acute patients (group E) directly to appropriate daytime services. There was also lively public and political debate about emergency services going on at the same time. Feedback was actively gathered both from Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical patients and the staff with questionnaires and interviews. The Numbers of visits to doctors and nurses and assessed patients were frequently measured. Similarly, patients assessed in triage groups, waiting times and diagnoses in different triage groups were irregularly measured. In order to discuss the implementation process and problematic patient cases, follow-up found meetings were organized every month. Statistical analysis The triage system was introduced at the beginning of March 2007. The frequencies of monthly patient visits in the three previous years were compared to the number of patient visits in the respective months of the next year (March 2007-February 2008), e.g. after the triage was applied. One-way ANOVA of repeated measurements followed by t-test with the Bonferroni Correction was chosen as the method for statistical analysis. [16].