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Triage Knowledge and Practice and Associated Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Nurse Triage in Tertiary Care Among Emergency Departments

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Emergency essential services employ a triage approach to prioritize patients based on their clinical severity. The objective is to evaluate emergency department (ED) nurses' triage knowledge and practice by identifying factors influencing triage system accuracy. This involves assessing nurses' skills and understanding of triage procedures, potentially through surveys, observations, or performance evaluations, and examining how variables such as experience, training, and hospital type affect triage accuracy, which is essential for efficient and effective emergency care. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from February 2024 to January 2025 on 300 nurses in the ED and 800 patients through a Google Forms questionnaire (Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA), distributed by email at different hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Data were gathered using a self-administered questionnaire that employed non-probability purposive sampling to assess sociodemographic data, triage knowledge, and accuracy. RESULTS: In general, participants exhibited a high knowledge and triage practice level. Nonetheless, it was detected that there was an incorrect practice and a lack of knowledge in relation to certain aspects. According to the demographics of the participants, including qualification, gender, training, job title, and former triage training, there were insignificant differences in triage knowledge and practice (p > 0.05). Between triage knowledge and practice, there was a significant positive relationship (p < 0.01). It was observed that the average duration of accurate triage decisions was longer in patients with triage category 3. CONCLUSIONS: Findings revealed that emergency nurses had moderate levels of triage knowledge. While no statistically significant differences were found based on gender, job title, qualification, or additional training, nurses with more clinical experience showed higher triage accuracy, suggesting that experience may enhance performance.

Source: Cureus

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.95810

Authors: Reham Mostafa, Khaled El-Atawi

Institution: Latifa Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Emergency and Acute Care Studies

Subfield: Emergency Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4415732052