Introduction and aim: The process of triage in the Emergency department is complex and several triage scales have been designed to guide the clinician in prioritizing the patients. This study was done to quantify patient admission to ICU through the emergency department and to identify if vital signs strongly associated with criteria predictive for admission to the intensive care unit. Methods and results: A cross sectional study was undertaken in the emergency department over a period of 6 months at MS Ramaiah hospital. The study included total of 824 Patient presented to emergency department. Patient’s demographic data, clinical Information along with vital signs were noted. Majority of subjects were in the age group 31 to 40 years (23.7%), mean age was 41.4 ± 19.7 years. 58.3% were males and 41.7% were females, mean Heart rate was 89.80 ± 20.11, mean Respiratory Rate was 23.40 ± 6.65, mean SpO2 was 92.73 ± 7.09, mean SBP was 119.74 ± 20.79 and mean DBP was 75.08 ± 12.43. In the study SpO2 had highest sensitivity in predicting the admission to ward, ICU, Discharge and death in emergency room compared to other vital parameters. Conclusion: The Abnormal vital signs are strongly associated with adverse outcome; low SpO2 had the highest sensitivity and specificity of all the vital signs.

Keywords: Intensive care unit; Vital Signs; Emergency; ICU; Mortality.