When you triage, do you do it for a full shift? And if not for how long? Also how many pt's do you average per triage stint?I am brand new to triage after having spent 1 1/2 years in the ED. Most of my fellow nurses do it for a full 12 hours. I was fried after 8 hours. I saw about 60 patients. We are expected to triage a pt. start to finish in about 6-7 minutes. Full set of vitals, major medical problems and assessment. By the way this is peds and it can be a real hassle to get vitals on an uncooperative kid!
Sanuk 191 Posts Specializes in ER. Has 8 years experience. Aug 3, 2011 I've never not triaged the whole shift. In fact, I can rarely get relief for bathroom breaks when I'm in triage. In my experience and working with the computer system we have here, if all goes extremely smoothly (i.e. pt has no medical history and takes no meds, and falls between the ages of 15-75 ) you can triage in about 5 minutes. However, most take between 5-8 minutes. You learn pretty quickly to cut people off, politely of course, when they start to ramble off track. All that said, I hate triage! I was stuck there for weeks after tearing my ACL and needing light duty. I nearly went insane. I would rather have just about any pt assignment than have to listen to people scream about the wait time.
Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN 4 Articles; 20,908 Posts Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma. Has 43 years experience. Aug 3, 2011 When you triage, do you do it for a full shift? And if not for how long? Also how many pt's do you average per triage stint?I am brand new to triage after having spent 1 1/2 years in the ED. Most of my fellow nurses do it for a full 12 hours. I was fried after 8 hours. I saw about 60 patients. We are expected to triage a pt. start to finish in about 6-7 minutes. Full set of vitals, major medical problems and assessment. By the way this is peds and it can be a real hassle to get vitals on an uncooperative kid!You are new to triage...it will get better. You'll get a system down and things will flow more smoothly. You'll hone you're questions and assessment skills. But most places I have worked have called triage the penalty box.....It's busy and it stinks......:hug:you'll be fine....:heartbeat
Altra, BSN, RN 6,255 Posts Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU. Aug 3, 2011 I firmly believe no one should be in triage for more than 8 continuous hours unless your ER is some magical DisneyWorld place.
vivasmom 82 Posts Specializes in ED. Aug 3, 2011 ummm, no. no magical wonderland..! We see over 50,0000 pt.s a year:eek:
mybrowneyedgirl, BSN, RN 410 Posts Specializes in Emergency Room. Aug 3, 2011 Triage can be 4 to 12 hours . We have no time requirement for triaging, just that you jump to airway and chest pain issues before stubbed toes.
ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN 913 Posts Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN. Has 15 years experience. Aug 8, 2011 During season our triage is 16 hrs and off season it's 12 hrs, we have 3 triage nurses and they work the schedule out amongst themselves, I've filled in a few times and tend to attract the odd admits so I've been told to stay on the dark side
TrafalgarRN 45 Posts Specializes in Oncology, Emergency. Aug 8, 2011 Triage is my least favorite area in the department. Some people think its an easy job and i have seen people jostle to get the assignment and i gladly take my 4 patients at a time. We do 8 hr shifts and that's the maximum i have done triage. We see approx120 patients a day so on my Night shift we have probably 35-40 patients; 30 walk ins and 5 ambulances. The only good thing is that we have a nurse who triages the ambulances and they will help the triage nurse. We also have a good team on my shift and staff will also help by triaging a patient to give the triage nurse a break. When it comes to triage we try keep it less than 10 minutes but as some said those babies will drive you nuts so when i triage babies i will take them straight to a room after i get a wait and finish the triage in the room.
NeoPediRN 945 Posts Specializes in Pediatrics, ER. Has 6 years experience. Aug 9, 2011 The ED I work in does 4 hour slots so that no one burns out. 12 hours is toooooo long.
mmutk, BSN, RN, EMT-I 482 Posts Specializes in Emergency Dept, ICU. Has 11 years experience. Aug 10, 2011 I triaged 12 hours at a time 3 days a week for 2 years. I love triage it's my favorite place in the ER!
NeoPediRN 945 Posts Specializes in Pediatrics, ER. Has 6 years experience. Aug 10, 2011 God bless ya mmutk!
LilgirlRN, ADN, RN 769 Posts Specializes in ED staff. Aug 18, 2011 Triage 12 hour shifts 3 times a week. Love it!
