The nurse’s ability to accurately identify urgent conditions and triage this vulnerable population tends to be complex and challenging. Little is known about the reliability and validity of common triage tools in geriatric patients.
To determine the reliability and validity of triage tools in geriatric emergency care and summarize the specific content of current triage tools for geriatric patients.
The eligible literature was searched from the MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database using targeted search strategies. We defined the objectives and questions, set standards for article inclusion criteria, and conducted literature searching and screening. The mixed methods assessment tool (MMAT) appraised the article’s quality. Finally, we extracted and analyzed the data from the included articles, summarizing the results. Endnote X9 was used for data extraction and collation.
Nine articles were eligible. These included six triage tools: CTAS, JTAS, KTAS, MTS, SETS, and ESI. The reliability of the CTAS was good when applied to triage geriatric patients. The SETS performed well in prehospital simulated triage. The ESI has moderate to excellent reliability. The CTAS has good to excellent validity, while the JTAS, KTAS, MTS, and ESI have fair to good results.
Several triage tools are useful in geriatrics, but the reliability and validity of these tools have mixed results. Applying triage tools to triage geriatric patients still has limitations.
Enhancing the emergency competencies of healthcare professionals is essential for ensuring patient safety, optimizing emergency response efficiency, and fostering effective team collaboration. However, traditional simulation-based methods often struggle to accurately replicate real-life emergencies, resulting in outcomes that may not fully reflect actual performance, thereby undermining their effectiveness in training and developing the critical skills needed for emergency situations.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of using murder mystery games (MMGs) as a gamified learning method to enhance the emergency competencies of healthcare professionals.
Twelve scripts of emergency scenarios were developed for the MMGs, and five assessment scales were established, covering emergency response, scenario decision-making, team collaboration, emotional support, and human care. Questionnaire data were analyzed between the experimental and control groups using Chi-square tests for five dimensions and nineteen indicators of emergency competencies.
The performance of the experimental group in emergency response and emotional support was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.001). The experimental group also showed notable excellence in scenario decision-making, team collaboration, and human care (P<0.005).
Emergency capabilities can be significantly enhanced through murder mystery games, providing robust support for improving the quality of medical services.
The 24-hour operation of medical emergency units involves crucial first-hand information and medical treatments, which could involve potential complications and disputes if not handled with the utmost professionalism. Effective logistical support and timely activation are crucial in mass casualty triage to prevent systematic treatment issues and chaos.
This study explores the integration of Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) with a service blueprint to mitigate medical risks and enhance mass casualty triage efficiency in emergency units.
An expert team analyzed emergency unit standard operating procedure cases using a service blueprint to visually represent mass casualty triage scenarios. The HFMEA identified potential hazards and failure risks in healthcare service delivery during mass casualty triage.
Fifteen high-risk hazard indexes exceeding the standard score of eight were identified among three main processes and thirty-one potential failure reasons. The initial operational time for mass casualty triage was approximately 104 min, significantly reduced to 34 min after process revision (p = 0.043, <0.05).
This study demonstrates effective time management in mass casualty triage, potentially saving up to an hour. Improved operational efficiency allows for focused resuscitation efforts, alleviating concerns about timely patient flow initiation.
Despite pain being the most common reason for patients to visit the emergency department (ED), conventional pain management methods are often inadequate. Patient controlled analgesia (PCA), which allows patients to self-administer intravenous analgesia, is widely used across many hospital wards, however, is not routinely used in ED. We aimed to identify clinicians’ perceptions of PCA use in the ED setting.
A qualitative descriptive approach was employed using semi-structured individual interviews conducted with ED clinicians from two hospitals in Western Australia. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Data saturation was achieved after 20 participant interviews. Five themes emerged from the interview data: sustainability and choosing the right patient; time; safety concerns and side effects; anticipating the patient’s perspective (staff perception); facilitating PCA use in ED.
Most participants perceived that patients would experience several benefits from PCA use in ED. Several perceived barriers and facilitators were also identified. To facilitate the use of PCA in ED, there is a need for staff education on PCA use, patient selection guidelines and effective change management strategies. Further research about the time it takes to administer analgesia via PCA compared with conventional methods is needed.
Workplace violence (WPV) can have adverse psychological, physical, and emotional effects on emergency department (ED) personnel. Adaptive strategies can help them better adapt to WPV. The study aimed to explore ED personnel’s experiences with adaptive strategies used in the face of WPV.
In this qualitative study, 22 ED personnel (nurses, doctors, services patient care assistants, and security guards) were selected using purposive sampling from Urmia city hospitals. Deep semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. After recording and implementing interviews, conventional content analysis was used to extract concepts.
Data analysis led to extracting an overarching theme of “mastering the situation and avoiding harm.” Two categories that supported the main theme were: “effort to avoid violence” and “effort to escape suffering.” The seven subcategories supported main categories included “managing patients and companions, ”self-control,“ ”seeking support, “emotional discharge,” “thought diversion, ”tendency to spirituality,“ and ”seeking medical assistance.“
Given the experiences of ED personnel regarding strategies used, health managers and policymakers are recommended to develop and implement comprehensive programs to reduce violence and empower nurses before and after dealing with violence. The following programs will help: developing and implementing guidelines such as zero-tolerance WPV policy, criminalizing violence against personnel and punishing perpetrators; holding classes related to communication skills, self-control skills, and deviant thinking skills for ED personnel; raising public awareness of the prevailing conditions in the emergency through mass media, and counseling and treating violent ED personnel.
Emergency departments (EDs) worldwide are dealing with overcrowding, system fragmentation, and coordination problems, which impact patient wait times, staff job satisfaction, and patient outcomes. Inappropriate ED visits, particularly those for low acuity conditions, exacerbate these challenges. However, the motivations behind these visits are poorly understood, with limited data from the patient perspective. This study investigated patient-reported motives behind ED visits triaged as low acuity in Poznan, Poland, to propose health care system flow enhancements.
A cross-sectional survey and retrospective chart review were conducted in the ED of the Hipolit Cegielski Medical Center in Poznań, Poland, over three months in 2022–23. Patients who were triaged to have low acuity conditions were invited to participate in the survey. The data collected through the questionnaire included patient and ED visit characteristics. Additional information on the visits was extracted from the patient charts.
This study involved 293 patients who underwent low-acuity triage. Among them, 58 % were deemed to have conditions that could have been treated in primary care. Most of the patients (74 %) visited the ED of their own volition due to concerns about their health. Other reasons for ED attendance were challenges accessing primary care or a specialist clinic (11 %), system navigation problems (5 %), or a lack of trust in their primary care provider (2 %).
This study showed that of the patients surveyed, the majority had conditions that could have been treated outside of the ED setting. We recommend prioritizing education, particularly among younger adults, to increase awareness about nonurgent care options while improving health care policies.