Development of Patient Triage Model Using Emergency Severity Index Per Waiting Period Patients and the Role of Nurses Accident and Emergency Nursing Group, Lamphun Hospital

Abstract

Background:   Developing a sorting pattern in order of severity is an effective way to prioritize urgency so that patients can get early to treatment based on their level of urgency.

Objective:      To develop patient sorting patterns using the emergency severity Index and the effectiveness of patterns on patient waiting times and the practice of independent roles of nurses.

Study design:   It's a quasi-experimental research. The samples were nurses on Triage duties, accident and emergency departments, Lamphun Hospital total 16 persons. The experimental instrument was a patient Triage model using the Emergency severity index and patient classification observation form. The experimental evaluation tool included a patient waiting period record form and an independent practice questionnaire of registered nurses. Analyze qualitative data with content analysis and quantitative data analysis with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, one sample t-test and paired t-test statistic at 0.05 level of significance.

Results:         Patient Triage model using the Emergency Severity Index. The patient category is divided into 5 levels; Immediate: treat immediately, Emergency: treated within 10 minutes, Urgency: treated within 30 minutes, Semi-Urgency: treated within 60 minutes and Non-Urgency: can wait to receive treatment within 120 minutes. In terms of the effectiveness of using the Triage    model, it was found that after using the Triage model, Waiting time for Immediate patients was the same as the Australian benchmark (=0.02 min, <0 min). Patient waiting time for Emergency (=3.13 min, ≤10 min) Urgency (= 15.27 min, ≤30 min). Semi-Urgency (=22.08 minutes, ≤60 minutes) and Non-Urgency (average 45.56 minutes, ≤120 minutes) were statistically significantly less than the Australian benchmark at a 0.05 level and in the field of practice, the independent role of nurses. It was found that after using the nursing model, Able to perform independent roles better, statistically significant at 0.05.

Conclusions: Development of a patient Triage model using the emergency severity index can be used to develop an effective patient Triage.

Keywords:     Patient Triage, Emergency Severity Index, Patient Waiting Distance Time