SURVEY ON KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF EMERGENCY NURSING STAFF IN AHVAZ HOSPITALS OF NEW METHOD OF TRIAGE

Background and Purpose: Understanding the various methods of triage in different situations and locations is one of the most important needs of the training staff, especially nurses. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice of nurses working in the emergency department. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic study was carried out with the participation of 73 nurses working in the emergency department of Ahwaz University of Medical Sciences affiliated hospitals who were enrolled in the study in 2017. The data gathering tool includes a questionnaire for the Features of the individual characteristics and the knowledge and practice of emergency personnel from triage systems in Iran [α = 0.3]. Data were analyzed using descriptive-inferential statistics in SPSS version 20. Findings: Results showed that 87.7% [64 people] had poor knowledge, 12.3% [9 people] had moderate knowledge about different methods of triage, and 93.2% [68 people] had moderate performance and 6.8% [5 people] had poor performance to use different methods of triage. The mean total score of nurses 'knowledge was 20.55 ± 8 and the mean score of nurses' performance was moderate [44.64 ± 8.82]. Statistical analysis showed a significant statistical relationship. Conclusion: Considering the low level of knowledge and practice of nurses working, it is necessary to organize training courses for triage, to implement interventions and educational research in this field and equip the emergency ecological environment and staff performance from different systems of triage to improve and promote treatment services. Keywords: triage, nurse, awareness, performance