The Accuracy and Outcomes of Nurse Performance of Triage Process in Emergency Department of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Qom dring 1395

Background and Aim: The goal of triage is to classify and treat patients according to the severity of the injury based on five levels of priority. However, triage error may occur by allocating patients to lower (under-triage) or higher (over-triage) classes, leading to deterioration in patients' status or restricting access to patients in need for immediate care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and outcomes of triage performed for patients in the ER of Shahid Beheshti Hospital (Qom, Iran). Materials and methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 456 samples were randomly selected from medical records of patients admitted to the ER and triage form data and patient outcome were collected. The accuracy of triage was assessed by comparing the triages performed by the nurse with the standard triage of ESI. Data were analyzed using SPSS with a significance level of 0.05 Results: Out of 456 patients, 92.8% of patients were discharged, 5.7% were hospitalized and 1.5% of patients died. 76.1% of performed triages were correct, 5.7% were under-triage and 18.2% were over- triage. There was no significant correlation between patients' final outcome and triage accuracy. The most common reason for patients’ referral to ER was trauma (48%), in which the highest triage error had occurred. Reason for referral and the accuracy of triage were significantly correlated (p = 0.002) Conclusion: The most triage error was noted in the most common cause of patient referral (trauma). The rate of emergency triage error was 23.9% in the form of over-triage (18.2%). Although this triage error did not have dangerous outcomes for patients, it is recommended to improve the knowledge and skills of triage nurses in order to reduce errors.