The Effect of Smartphone-based Training of Triage the Knowledge and Decision Making of Emergency Nurses

The rapid and accurate triage of patients is the key to success in patient care and to enable the identification of patients in need of emergency care. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of smart triage training on nurses' knowledge and decision making.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test and post-test group in 2020 which 25 triage nurses of the emergency department of Khoy University of Medical Sciences hospitals were selected. The training method was via smart phone. A questionnaire containing demographic information and a triage form based on the triage algorithm were used to collect data. In order to diagnose triage error, 350 patient records were reviewed by the researcher before and after the training. Then, the level of triage was determined and the amount of triage error was assessed. The knowledge of emergency nurses was also examined before and one year after the intervention. The data were analyzed using chi-square, McNemar, and paired t-test.

The results showed that the triage error decreased from 28% before the intervention to 19.1%, and McNemar test showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Regarding the knowledge of triage nurses, paired t-test showed that the knowledge of nurses increased after the intervention (p<0.001).

The results of the present study showed that improving the skills and knowledge of nurses can increase the accuracy of emergency nurses in the correct triage of patients. Therefore, planning based on proper triage training is strongly recommended for emergency nurses.