PERCEPTIONS AND KNOWLEDGE ON TRIAGE OF NURSES WORKINGIN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS OF HOSPITALS IN THE TAMALE METROPOLIS, GHANA.

Abstract

Triage is an essential function of staff in Emergency Department. The triage nurse is typically the first person a patient encounter when presenting for emergency care in the Emergency Department. Nurses’ knowledge about triage is a key in triage decision making. Effective decision making can influence the health outcomes of presenting patients. The study aimed to assess the perceptions and knowledge of triage of nurses working in the Emergency Departments of hospitals in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Emergency Department of hospitals in the Tamale metropolis. A sample of 65 nurses were selected from the Emergency Department of the three hospitals by using non-probability purposive sampling method.Data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version IBM – 21 Results were analyzed by descriptive statistics and were represented in the form of tables, and figures. Out of the sixty-five (65) participants, 37(56.9%) were males Majority of the nurses 70.8% were of 21-30 years of age. Minimum age was 21years and maximum age was 41years. The study revealed that 62.6% of the respondents were knowledgeable about triage by correctly answering more than 50% of the questions, in the self-administered questionnaires. Majority of nurses (96%) in the Emergency Departments of the various hospitals had a very good perception about the importance of triage to the patient, care provider and the country at large.Current findings showed that as the nurses had increased years of working experience their triage knowledge level also improved. The current study findings revealed a little above average percent score (62.6%) about triage knowledge among nurses. To improve on this, workshops/inservice training should be carried out, followed by continuous professional development on a regular basis for nurses in the Emergency Departments.