Blog & Articles

The shortage of nursing professionals is a growing global crisis that significantly impacts patient safety and healthcare delivery systems. Emergency departments (EDs) are particularly impacted, as there are not many nurses still working in EDs who have more than a few years of experience. The importance of an experienced and effective nursing team cannot be overstated both in and outside of the ED. The nursing shortage has a direct impact on patient safety, so this is a good subject for this week’s discussion.

Challenges in a Post COVID World

The national nursing shortage makes recruiting and retaining quality nursing staff extremely competitive. While facilities may have traditionally required 3-5 years of emergency department (ED) experience before training a nurse for triage, the lack of resources has forced some organizations into reducing the requirement to one year or less. As this requirement decreases, it is increasingly critical to have a well-defined onboarding path for nurses new to triage.

[3 MIN READ]

When most people think of triage, they think of nurses making sense of the chaos caused by 141 million annual visits to the ED.

Patients who are part of this massive onslaught of unscheduled care arrive daily at any hour, and the first person they see is someone in triage, usually a nurse, whose job is to quickly figure out who needs to be seen in what order.

In my early practice years, my ignorant impression was that triage was for dummies – all one had to do was just sit there and assign patients to a room.

Many years of experience and observation have taught me otherwise – that triage is where the best and brightest nurses should be. 

[6 MIN READ]

The national nursing shortage makes recruiting and retaining quality nursing staff extremely competitive. While facilities traditionally might have required 3-5 years of emergency department (ED) experience before training a nurse for triage, the lack of resources has forced some organizations into reducing the requirement to one year or less. As this requirement decreases, it is increasingly critical to have a well-defined onboarding path for nurses new to triage.

Additionally, having well-defined role expectations – especially during onboarding – can have a significant impact on a nurse’s job satisfaction and the likelihood they will stay with your organization.

[3 MIN READ]

After investing in an ongoing triage training program, some emergency department (ED) managers and educators become frustrated due to gaps in the application of that education. The goal of triage is to rapidly identify and sort patients to ensure they receive the appropriate care in the right amount of time. Updated triage practice protocol and ongoing triage training helps ensure optimal patient triaging. Implementing changes though does not always come easily.

[3 MIN READ]

As concerns for COIVD-19 continue to escalate in many areas of the country, it is imperative that triage staff remain alert to their role in early identification of potential infection. 

[2 MIN READ]

What does your organization’s Employee Satisfaction Survey really tell you about how staff feel about their roles/jobs? The survey result graphs demonstrate areas that need improvement and more, but do they capture the authenticity and essence of how staff feel when they step onto the unit each shift?

[2 MIN READ]

When you serve clinicians with varying experience levels, how do you implement your triage training courses to create an ideal experience for each group?

While your implementation plan and structure might vary based on the size of your facility, our experienced triage educators outline these best practices to streamline your program and ensure that expectations are clear.

How do you determine who is actually competent to triage? If you do have a competency assessment plan, is it documented in writing? How do you know it is effective? Is it up to date?

These and many other questions arise when exploring the development and documentation of a triage competency validation process. Answers to these questions are imperative, as they not only impact litigation that may arise, but are also essential for ensuring the highest quality patient care.

A 25-year-old male presents to an emergency department at his local community hospital with abdominal pain. The department is at its peak time of patient flow, and every bed is filled. The patient is called to the triage area; the nurse assesses him and assigns a triage level decision to his chart. His triage nurse must consider the following:

• Is his abdominal pain a potential for demise?
• How long will he wait to be seen by a provider?
• Is there anything that can be done to expedite his care?