Triage Staff Expectations Data Model: Hospital Emergency Information System

Given the complexity and dynamic nature of triage and ahead challenges in selecting the required information in emergency environment، this study aimed to improve the registration quality of triage process and shift it from paper-based to computer-based triage assessment through processing of the triage staff expectations data model of emergency information system. This descriptive study was performed on nurses and physicians working in triage units of affiliated hospital of Tehran، Iran and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2009. This study was conducted in three steps. The first step was to collect data through interviews; the second step was modeling by methods of rational unified process (RUP) and unified modeling language (UML) and the third step was a Delphi approach to confirm the models scientifically using a valid، reliable and researcher-made questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the questionnaire data. Through interviewing with the triage staff based on working process، we found that triage staff required data elements should have coherent and integrated association. In the Delphi، results showed that 82% of the statistical population agreed with the elements and information structure in the triage unit. The findings suggested that the triage unit staff had a broad understanding of the triage and recognized triage as a process in which the severity of disease، screening and data collection about assessment are combined. The results of this study can be used to guide and prioritize required information in the emergency information system in the triage area of victims and patients base on the triage nurses'' and doctors'' performance.