RN experience prior to ER triage?

[RNBelle]

Quick question. How much experience should a RN have before they start working in a triage and/or charge RN role? More specifically, what are the national standards.

THANKS!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I had a patient who went to the ICU from fast track recently ... not that we truly have a designated "fast track," but we have a set of rooms that we usually use for low acuity stuff. This guy had a cough, so he got a mask (like he had the flu) and got put into our isolation room. Ummmm ... the lungs full of rales, swollen ankles, rapid a-fib and O2 sat of 85% were probably the biggest problems, combined with the pneumonia. Ya think?! How I love starting multiple lines and hanging Cardizem and Levaquin in Ye Olde Faste Tracke. Ha ha.

[MikeyBSN]

I had a patient who went to the ICU from fast track recently ... not that we truly have a designated "fast track," but we have a set of rooms that we usually use for low acuity stuff. This guy had a cough, so he got a mask (like he had the flu) and got put into our isolation room. Ummmm ... the lungs full of rales, swollen ankles, rapid a-fib and O2 sat of 85% were probably the biggest problems, combined with the pneumonia. Ya think?! How I love starting multiple lines and hanging Cardizem and Levaquin in Ye Olde Faste Tracke. Ha ha.

One of our nurses triaged an ST elevation MI to fast track. To be fair, his complaint was "back pain", he looked good for having an MI and his VS were normal. However, I think that a more intense triage investigation would have determined that the symptoms were cardiac in nature.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

One of our nurses triaged an ST elevation MI to fast track. To be fair, his complaint was "back pain", he looked good for having an MI and his VS were normal. However, I think that a more intense triage investigation would have determined that the symptoms were cardiac in nature.

Yikes! Nothing like calling the chopper from fast track ... which I did not long ago, for an intracranial bleed. Sometimes there is nothing fast track about our fast track!

[back2bRN]

A good triage nurse makes it look easy, so everyone thinks they can do it. The fact is you should have experience and should have experienced the results of bad calls... I have worked many places, and some you were thrown right in with a 5 minute "this is how things are done", other places you have to be there for 2-3 years and take a 2 day course. Up in Canada not much consistency with the area of triage(re: training and experience) which imo is a specialty. You make a bad call, someones' life is never the same, you make a good call, you hear nothing ..You have to get the most amount of accurate info in the shortest amt of time....truly a challenge.

[Larry77, RN]

In my last job it was about two years before they started inching you into triage. Then you would be part of two nurses for a bit until you were the sole triage RN. There was also a class on triage you took before heading out there.

This is the same policy we have...of course there are some RN's that have been there 3-4 years and have not been asked to go to triage...not everyone has the skill set for such a challenging assignment.

[LilgirlRN, ADN, RN]

Yes, there catastrophes from being triaged with the wrong diagnosis in mind. When I got to work today there was a guy in one of our "clinic" rooms, meaning he was thought not to be very sick. He was admitted to ICU, dx AAA. His chief complaint was back pain, 70 something.

[rn/writer, RN]

The only nurses that I would want triaging after a mere three months would be former combat medics or high-volume paramedics with lots of experience under their belts before getting their RN degrees.