*2.1. Sample*

The study was based on 200 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria for visiting the UCC. The exclusion criteria were patients triaged red, patients with a preliminary diagnosis in most cases referred from the primary care centre to the ED (e.g., potential distal deep vein thrombosis, emergen<sup>t</sup> vertigo etc.) and patients with a preliminary diagnosis potentially developing from non-red triage to a state of emergency (e.g., suspected ectopic pregnancy, dyspnoea, suspected urosepsis, etc.). A list of exclusion criteria based on a literature review was developed and implemented as a selective tool used in the triage at the ED. The STROBE checklist (strengthening the communication of observational studies in epidemiology) was used to guide the study process [18].

The first half (*n* = 100) of the 200 patients were selected retrospectively on a consecutive basis just prior to the UCC being established. Consequently, the first half were treated by the ED. The second half of the patients (*n* = 100) were selected consecutively from patients triaged to the UCC six months after it was established. No other substantial changes in organization or methods occurred at the ED during the study period.

The 200 patients were distributed over 104 men and 96 women, with an average age of 45 (SD = 20.24). The study size was based on a power estimation of a standardized statistical power of 0.80 and medium e ffect size of 0.3 premeditated the appropriate sample size to 93 participants in each population. The α significance level was 0.05 [19]. The two populations were compared in order to concur in terms of emergency and severity. They were triaged on a five-level scale from red (highest degree of emergency) to blue (non-urgent). The distribution was red = 0, orange = 3, yellow = 107, green = 89 and blue = 13 patients. The patients were all triaged according to the Rapid Emergency Triage Treatment Scale [20]. The most common symptoms were wounds/burns, headache/dizziness, fever/infection and chest pain/vascular symptoms (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Symptoms distributed over the two samples, before (ED population) and after (UCC population). (*n* = 200).
