Emergency Visit Triage Levels Across 132 Alberta Local Geographic Areas

132 local geographic areas provide emergency department patient triage data using the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale. The dataset covers three fiscal years from 2015/2016 to 2017/2018, aggregated at both local and provincial Alberta levels. It was published in March 2019 as part of the Alberta Health Primary Health Care - Community Profiles report.

Use Cases

• Analyze the distribution of CTAS triage levels (1-5) across the 132 Local Geographic Areas to identify regions with higher acuity patient volumes.
• Compare emergency visit patterns for the most urgent (CTAS level 1) and least urgent (CTAS level 5) cases between different fiscal years.
• Map triage level frequencies by Local Geographic Area (e.g., Lacombe, Red Deer) for geospatial public health resource planning.

Strengths

• Data is structured for 132 distinct Local Geographic Areas, enabling granular regional analysis.
• Uses the standardized 5-level Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) for consistent severity measurement.
• Covers three consecutive fiscal years, allowing for temporal trend examination.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, covering periods ending in 2017/2018 and published in 2019.
• Row and column counts, sample size, and data granularity (e.g., patient-level details) are unknown.
• Analysis is limited to patients residing in the defined local areas, excluding visitors or transient populations.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta, published as part of the 'Alberta Health Primary Health Care - Community Profiles' report.

Collection Method

Administrative health data aggregated by Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services based on census boundaries.

Time Range

Fiscal years 2015/2016, 2016/2017, and 2017/2018.

Freshness

null

Geography

132 Local Geographic Areas within Alberta, Canada (e.g., Lacombe, Red Deer, Calgary West Bow), plus provincial Alberta totals.