Redesigning our ED. Do other places have a room at triage or just a bench?

[ednursemanager]

We are redesigning our ED (very exciting). Weare planning to triage over a bench with a sliding screen for security. We currently have a room we can take patients in to to triage them but there is no space for such a room in the new plans. Do other places have a room at triage or just a bench?

Part of the reason we are removing the room is for security, but also we want our triage nurses to triage quicker. We are findng that triage takes longer than it should because of the time it takes to bring a patient into a room and the nurse does a more in depth assessment that may not impact on the triage decision. Any thoughts?

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

We have a large Triage area with all the space you need for it.

Accomodates 2 triage nurses, a a registration clerk who does a short Registration and ID bands for all patients.

Now we are debating whether to use the CAST or ESI methods of triage.

[galenight, BSN, RN]

A bench??? I guess my mental picture is not doing it justice. I picture two old men playing checkers when you mention bench. How will you accomadate the privacy of patients without a room that can be fairly private? How does the bench figure into the problem of lenthy triage assessments? And last time I checked a screen is not very secure. My cat jumped through mine!!!

[Medic173]

Medics triage in our ED as well as take Pt Care.

[needsmore$]

Be careful with medics in triage--watch those standard of practice!! ( If you base your department standards on ENA Guidelines and Standards--though I firmly believe that some medics triage much better than some nurses do!!!:chuckle )

How do we triage-- 5 level system. Use 2 rooms- triage nurse moves from room to room ( when really busy or morethan 4-5 patients waiting to be seen at triage- a second nurse comes out to help).

If rooms are open in the back ( this works during our nightshift and early dayshift hours) -patients just go back to the treatment area and care started--

Patient primary concern and our goal is to decrease door to doc time--so why make the patient sit at triage and give their story--when the rooms and staff are available in the back-- why have the patient tell the story over and over.

Again, once we fill up (usually by about 10 AM)- Fast Track opens, the triage nurse has to get more detailed because immediate treatment area may not be available---

We are redesigning our triage process as well- we do base our process with the ENA Standards and Guidelines--using only professional nurses, ACLS, PALS, several years ED experience, Triage trained (a program we use/developed with preceptoring for 16 hours ( triage in 4-8 hour blocks).

I know some EDs are using higher trained practitioners such as NP/PA group or even physicians at triage-- this would count as their medical screening exam as well (COBRA/EMTALA issues)

Lots of options available--