Triage

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Triage nurses are the first physicians a patient has clinical contact with as they are visiting an emergency room. These nurses have the responsibility of assessing and finding out the level of medical assistance a patient needs. Triage nurses play a vital role in emergency rooms. By sorting the patient into categories according to their need for medical assistance, patients who need urgent help can get it on time instead of the first come first served system. However, if the condition of the patient is critical, then triage nurses have the responsibility of providing immediate medical attention. There is evidence depicting how triage nurses help to improve the patient flow in the ER thus increasing efficiency and reducing crowding (Van der Linden, 2016). Other responsibilities they are tasked with include:Assessing patients in the waiting room.
Reassessing waiting patients.
Communicate and manage patients while in the waiting room.
Transporting patients to their relevant treatment area.
Emergency Rooms are usually a very busy environment filled with complex assessments, actions and decisions that need to be made in seconds hence the need of having prior information of the patient. Emergency Rooms sole reason for existence is treating patients with life-threatening or serious conditions hence anyone coming to the ER with a more serious health problem should be treated first regardless of their arrival time (Ebrahimi et al., 2016). By continuing education in triage nursing, the operation of emergency rooms will be more effective as patients will get assistance as first as they need.

Some ER facilities have insufficient resources to take care of all the patients admitted; triage helps in subdividing patients according to their medical needs hence the available resources are allocated to where they are most needed. There is a need for continuing education in Orthoperiodic emergency and Triage nurses as they increase the efficiency at which an ER operates this makes it possible for patients to receive required help within a short time span.
References
Ebrahimi, M., Mirhaghi, A., Mazlom, R., Heydari, A., Nassehi, A., & Jafari, M. (2016). The role descriptions of triage nurse in emergency department: a Delphi study. Scientifica, 2016.
Van der Linden, M. C., Meester, B. E., & Van der Linden, N. (2016). Emergency department crowding affects triage processes. International emergency nursing, 29, 27-31.