Emerg Nurse
January 2025
Receptionists have an important role in emergency departments (EDs), helping to greet and register patients and ensure the smooth functioning of the department. However, there appears to be a dearth of research about the extent of their role. This article details a scoping review that aimed to map current research about the role and responsibilities of ED receptionists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriage is the first stage of a patient's journey through the emergency department and is used to determine patient acuity. There is no single quantifiable metric for determining acuity, which amalgamates different factors that are more or less relevant depending on the patient's presentation. This article explains the aim and process of triage and how nurses can ensure the process is effective and safe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: International research suggests that triage nurses' decision-making practices and training experiences vary significantly across emergency departments (EDs). However, there does not appear to be similar research published in the UK. Understanding factors, such as demographics, training and decision-making could provide a picture of triage nurses working in UK EDs, identify the interventions required to improve practice and inform further research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriaging patients can be a complicated process, with multiple modes of assessment taking place simultaneously, and nurses need to be confident and competent in their assessment skills. This article explains the necessary preparation for triage and outlines the steps that nurses need to take when triaging a patient in the emergency department. • Triage requires a targeted patient assessment, using both clinical judgement and triage tools to determine appropriate acuity categories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Nurses make complex triage decisions within emergency departments, which significantly affect patient outcomes. Understanding how nurses make these decisions and why they deviate from triage algorithms facilitates interventions that work with their decision-making processes, increasing acceptability and effectiveness.
Aims: This qualitative systematic review aimed to understand decision-making processes emergency nurses use to make acuity decisions during triage assessment at initial patient presentation.
Triage accuracy is important to ensure effective treatment and management of patients in the emergency department, however this requires nurses to receive high-quality triage training. This article reports the results of a scoping review that aimed to establish what research on triage training exists and what research is required to improve such training. Sixty-eight studies which used a range of training interventions and outcome measurements were reviewed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccurate triaging of patients in emergency departments (EDs) is crucial, since triage determines how quickly patients are assessed and treated. Understanding the factors that influence ED nurses' triage decisions is important to ensure that patients are prioritised appropriately and cared for in a timely manner. This article reports and discusses the findings of a literature review on the factors that affect nurses' triage decisions in the ED.
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