Assessment of Staff Nurse's knowledge and Performance Regarding Triage

Abstract

Introduction: Emergency department is an integral unit in a hospitalbecause it serve large number of people so triage is needed to decrease overcrowding of Emergency department. Triage is defined as the process of sorting a group of patient in a hospital.The study aimed toassessemergency staff nurses' knowledge and performance regarding triage .Design:A comparative descriptive design was used in carrying out the study.Setting: Emergency departments of Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital affiliated touniversity hospitals and Naser institute hospital affiliated to Ministry of health and population (MOHP) .Subjects: 36 nurses from Ain shams university specialized hospital who worked in emergency department and 30 nurse from Naser institute hospital who worked in emergency department.Tool:the data collection forms consisted of observational checklist to assess performance of nurses regarding triage and questionnaire to assess knowledge of nurses regarding triage.Results: the results showed that(63%) of the studied nurse had unsatisfactory knowledge regarding triage and more than (75%) of them had inadequate performance regarding triage.Conclusion:the studied nurse had unsatisfactory knowledge and inadequate performance regarding triage. Recommendation: developed triage nurse roles and triage process in the curriculum of nursing educational, development of standards, specifications and qualifications of triage nurse by the Ministry of Health, developed training programs to all emergency health team personnel to determine the triage nurse qualifications, role, and how to use triage process, developed the protocols and policies of emergency department to facilitate the triage system and triage nurse work.