Glossary
Emergency department terms used in EDFlow (CTAS, PIA, AVS, LWBS, NPO, disposition, code, boarding) with the plain words patients see and the terms staff use.
EDFlow uses two registers: plain words for patients and family, and the usual clinical and administrative terms for staff. This glossary maps one to the other.
Visit terms
| Staff term | What patients see | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Triage | First check by a nurse | The first nursing assessment on arrival, which sets how urgently the person needs to be seen |
| CTAS | Never shown | Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, levels 1 (most urgent) to 5. Used by staff and analytics only |
| PIA | Seen by a doctor, a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant | Physician initial assessment: the first time a physician, NP or PA sees the patient |
| Provider assigned | A doctor has been assigned | A clinician has taken the patient but has not yet seen them |
| Reassessment | Seen again by your care team | The clinician sees the patient again after results are back |
| Consult | Waiting for a specialist | A specialist service is asked to see the patient |
| Observation | Treatment and monitoring | A planned period of watching, for example after treatment of an allergic reaction |
| Disposition | The plan: going home, staying in hospital, moving to another hospital | The decision on where the patient goes next |
| Boarding | Staying in hospital: waiting for a bed | Time between the decision to admit and leaving the ED |
| LWBS | Left the department | Left without being seen. The family view never distinguishes it from going home |
| AMA | Left the department | Left against medical advice |
| LOS | — | Length of stay in the ED |
| AVS | Your going-home summary | After-visit summary, written from approved templates. It is not the legal discharge record |
| NPO | Please don't eat or drink anything for now | Nothing by mouth. Shown only when the EHR has an NPO order, never inferred |
| Medical directive | Some tests have been started while you wait | Tests a nurse can start before a physician sees the patient |
| Code | Your wait may be longer | A hospital emergency response. Patients see only the generic delay notice, and only for the codes the hospital allows |
The stages
| # | Summary |
|---|---|
1 | Checked in |
2 | Waiting to be seen |
3 | A doctor has been assigned |
4 | Seen by a doctor |
5 | Tests under way |
6 | Results back: waiting to see your care team again |
7 | Treatment and monitoring |
8 | Waiting for a specialist |
9 | Getting ready to go home |
10 | Moving to another hospital |
11 | Staying in hospital: waiting for a bed |
12 | Left the department |
Care-team roles
| Staff role | What patients see |
|---|---|
| Attending physician | Doctor |
| Resident | Doctor in training |
| Nurse practitioner | Nurse practitioner |
| Physician assistant | Physician assistant |
| Primary or zone nurse | Your nurse |
| Triage nurse | Triage nurse |
| Consultant | Specialist, with the service in plain words unless it is sensitive |
| Respiratory therapist, social worker, pharmacist, support worker, students | Also caring for you |
Product terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Visit card | The card or wristband label with the QR code and visit code a patient uses to sign in |
| Owner device | The first phone that signs in with the card and confirms "Is this you?". It can share with family and manage other devices |
| Family link | A link the patient shares so up to three devices can follow a reduced view of the visit |
| Grace window | How long after leaving the department the patient and family can still see the visit read-only |
| Request | A structured message from the patient to the care team, such as a blanket or an interpreter |
| Delay notice | The generic message patients see when a code is likely to delay their care |
| Volume level | Normal, busy, very busy or surge, set by the charge nurse |
| Feed | The stream of events from the hospital's EHR through its integration engine |
| Manual console | Staff actions that set the same facts as the feed when there is no feed, or when it is wrong |
| Usual wait, "most within" | "Usually" runs from the time half of people finish within to the time three in four finish within; "most within" is the time 9 in 10 finish within. All for this hospital, weekday and hour, rounded up |
Related
- How a visit works
- Wait estimates
- Hospital information screens also have a "Words we use" section written by each hospital.
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