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Caller triage score for paediatric breathing calls
Development and internal validation of a caller-reported triage decision-support tool for children aged 0‐4 years presenting with breathing problems
British Paramedic Journal · 2026-09-01 · Added 29 August 2026
Development of the PREP score, a caller-reported decision-support tool for children aged 0-4 with breathing problems in a Welsh dispatch system — moderate discrimination (AUC 0.73) with high negative predictive value (93%) for identifying low-risk calls.
- Study type
- Modelling
- Design
- Service evaluation with internal validation (logistic regression model)
- Participants
- 5,935 paediatric incidents (MPDS code 06E01)
- Main finding
- AUC 0.73, Brier score 0.093; at the optimised threshold sensitivity was 53%, specificity 81%, NPV 93%; 38% of children scored zero for high-risk indicators.
- Caveat
- Internal validation only on a single service's retrospective data, and low sensitivity (53%) at the chosen threshold — needs external validation before operational use.
- Bottom line
- Hypothesis-generating
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Australian services use the same MPDS dispatch system, and clinician-led risk stratification of paediatric breathing calls is the same operational problem here.
Learning goal
Weigh the limitations of caller-reported triage tools when prioritising young children with breathing problems.
More
- Topic: Paediatrics
- Daily scan: 29 August 2026
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