Assessment of Staff Nurse's knowledge and Performance Regarding Triage

Background: Emergency department is an integral unit in a hospital because 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
toassess emergency 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 to university 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 above half of the studied nurse had unsatisfactory knowledge regarding triage and
more than three quarter 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
schools, nursing institutes and faculties of nursing, development of standards, specifications and
qualifications of triage nurse by the Ministry of Health and population, 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