A scoring system for elective triage of referrals: Spine Severity Score

The Spine Journal : Official Journal of the North American Spine Society
Shelly LwuKen C Thomas

Abstract

The Spine Severity Score (SSS) is a 15-point scoring system devised for the purpose of triaging elective surgical spine referrals. From the referral letter and the accompanying radiology report, a total score is calculated based on clinical, pathological, and radiological criteria; a maximum score of 5 can be obtained within each category. A higher total score represents a referral that should be seen more urgently. To report interrater and intrarater reliability for the SSS and compare the scoring system against the traditional system for triage, that is, the surgeon's clinical experience. A prospective cross-comparison design was used to evaluate the reliability and convergent validity of the SSS using spine case referrals. Four spine surgeons (experts) and three administrative assistants (nonexperts) at the University of Calgary scored 25 referrals. A second iteration of scoring was performed with a minimum time interval elapsed of 6 weeks. Raters were instructed to choose the most concerning (the one with the highest associated score) descriptor in each category that was thought relevant to the individual referral. No further instructions were given on how to interpret the referral letter or the radiology report. The surgeo...Continue Reading

References

Feb 1, 2003·Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice·T W NoseworthyUNKNOWN Steering Committee of the Western Canada Waiting List Project
Jul 31, 2003·ANZ Journal of Surgery·Andrew D MacCormickBryan R Parry
Aug 19, 2007·European Spine Journal : Official Publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society·Jason BraybrookeAlbert Yee
Aug 22, 2008·The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. Le Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques·R John HurlbertCharles Teo

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Citations

Jun 14, 2015·The Spine Journal : Official Journal of the North American Spine Society·Godefroy Hardy St-PierreAndrew Nataraj

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