Knowledge and Perceived Skills of Triage Practices of Nurses in Emergency Units of Selected Tertiary Hospitals in Enugu State, South-East Nigeria

Aim: Triage aims at promoting the safety of patients by ensuring the timing of care and resource allocation in requisite to the degrees of illness/or injury. The study investigated the knowledge and perceived skills of nurses in the practices of triage in ED of three purposively selected tertiary institutions in Enugu State.

Study Design: A quantitative descriptive study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at both the Adult and Children Emergency Units of three tertiary hospitals in Enugu State, over a four (4) month period.

Methodology: All nurses who were employed and have worked for a minimum of 3 months at the emergency units formed the study population, with 74 studied altogether. Data collection was done with the aid of trained research assistants by means of a pre-tested, standardized, structured, self-report questionnaire. It was given to the nurses and a follow up visit scheduled for collection for those that cannot be collected same day. Eighty three (83) questionnaires were administered after giving written informed consent and seventy four (74) retrieved. Data was analysed using SPSS version 24.

Results: Major findings include: moderate triage knowledge(51.4%); high perceived skills in patient assessment in NOHE (83.1%) and UNTH (80.0%) but moderate in ESUTH (61.6%); high perceived triage skills in patients categorization in NOHE (83.3%), moderate in UNTH (73%) and low in ESUTH (42%); high perceived triage skills in allocation of patients in NOHE (85%) and UNTH (80%) but low in ESUTH (48.0%). Triage knowledge, years of experience in ED, triage skills and professional certificates all had a weak relationship with triage implementation practices. Years of working in the ED and nurses triage skills show no significant relationship.

Conclusion: Nurses in ED do not have sufficient knowledge to carry out triage effectively. Importance of continuous training/retraining portrayed, leading to timely response to patients, reduction in overcrowding and aggressiveness in ED; and maximize resource utilization.