Evaluation of Emergency Nurses’ Knowledge and Performance about Hospital Triage

Background and Objectives: By knowing the level of knowledge of triage nurses, we will be capable of making the right decision about allocating suitable resources for enriching the quality of the emergency department. So, the objective of our study is to evaluate triage knowledge and performance of emergency nurses in Yazd province of Iran.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The sampling was performed from all nurses responsible for triage in emergency departments of 8 educational hospitals of Yazd University of Medical Sciences were included for our sampling in the study. Data collection was done using a questionnaire whose validity and reliability have already been approved. After evaluating all the questionnaires, 84 of them were completed, and others were excluded from the study. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS version 22 software.

Results: According to statistical analysis results, there was no significant relationship between the knowledge score, performance and total score with demographic characteristics. Moreover, there was no significant relationship between educational courses, work experience and work shift with knowledge, performance and total score. Although female nurses’ scores in knowledge and performance areas was higher than male scores, the differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The level of knowledge of the nurses employed in the emergency departments of Shahid Sadoughi University of medical sciences in Yazd is moderate in terms of triage. However, the performance of nurses working in the emergency departments of the aforementioned centers is higher than average. It is concluded that there is an immediate need to reconsider nurses triage education and improve the triage knowledge and performance among nurses.