Evaluation of the Knowledge of Triage among Nurses Working in Emergency Departments

This study was conducted to measure the level of knowledge of triage among nurses working in pediatric emergency and general emergency departments.\udMethods: This descriptive study was conducted between June and September 2014 with 154 nurses from five pediatric emergency and general emergency clinics of five hospitals located in the provinces of Erzurum and Ağrı, Turkey. In contrast to the study sample, this study was conducted within the universe. One hundred seventy seven nurses actively working at the clinics were contacted, however, 23 nurses did not agree to participate in the study, thus, the study was performed with 154 nurses. The study data were collected using a questionnaire created by the researchers through face-to-face interviews with nurses. In the evaluation of the data, percentage calculations, average and chi-square test were used. Official permission of the studied institution, approval of the ethics committee, and verbal consent of the participants were obtained in order to conduct the study.\udResults: In the study, the vast majority of nurses stated that they did not receive triage education during (51.3%) and after (72.1%) their college education. A statistically significant difference was found between the education level of the nurses and their triage practices (p<0.05). It was found that 72.7% of the nurses did not consider themselves qualified to perform triage, and 68.2% believed that triage was among the duties of emergency care nurses. It was also determined that the physical environment of the emergency department, the ability of personnel to triage and the absence of specialist physicians and nurses were factors affecting triage practice (p<0.05).\udConclusion: It was determined that the majority of nurses working in emergency departments did not receive triage education, did not consider themselves competent on triage and that triage practice should be supported through in-service training