Pediatric Nursing Triage in Mass Gathering: Education and Training Issues | Biomedgrid

Deaths of children could occur during mass gathering due to various reasons. Many of these deaths could be prevented if very sick children were identified and appropriate treatment started immediately upon their arrival at the health facility. This study investigates standardized role of the pediatric nurse in Emergency Triage, and the real situation occurring in Makkah local governmental hospitals, where nurses can hardly participate in the assessment, or decision making, and how the guidelines are used in the process. Significance of the study: Researchers have recently found that nurses reported limited knowledge and awareness of the wider emergency and disaster preparedness plans. This clarifies the research gap for pediatric nurses. Aims of the study: (1) is to review all the available studies in order to come up with a clear standardized role of the pediatric nurse in Emergency Triage. (2) to describe the requirements needed by the newly graduated nurses in order to be categorized by Health Authorities as an Emergency Triage Pediatric Nurse. (3) to recommend the integration of Triage competencies in BSC nursing curriculum. Setting: The study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Umm Al Qura University, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A review of the literature on mass gatherings and triage systems, was conducted. Four databases were utilized: (1) OVID (2) PubMed, (3) Cochrane Collection Plus, and (4) Lippincott. The search terms: Triage, Pre-hospital triage, Field triage, Triage nurse, Nursing curriculum, Pediatric nurse, Emergency room clinical competencies. Results: Differences in the application of pediatric triage across local and international hospitals in Mass-Gathering events, are discussed. The lack of standardized role of pediatric nurses in emergency triage is demonstrated both on national and international levels.