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is based on the implementation in March 2011 of what is coined the “Provider in Triage Program” (Love et al., 2012, p.67). In this program the triage area is staffed with a designated nurse practitioner or physician assistant, one registered nurse, one patient care technician, one phlebotomist or electrocardiogram technician, and one financial registrar. Including all of these roles in the triage area helps to evaluate patients quickly upon arrival and begin lab and diagnostic testing that may take additional time to come back. The implementation of this program was successful, resulting in a decrease in time from patient arrival to first point of contact with a health professional “from 75 min in January 2011 to 25 min in July 2011” (Love, Murphy, Lietz, & Jordan, 2012, p.71) and a significant decrease in the percentage of patients who left the department before receiving treatment, from 3.39% to 0.93% (Love et al.).
Implications for Nursing Practice In this portion of the paper we will discuss the different implications of the research presented in the article in relevance to the domains of the nursing profession, including: nursing practice, education, administration and research.
Nursing …show more content…
Triage education should now include the role of the registered nurse in collaboration with other healthcare professionals and can be more focused on history taking and initial examination as well as keeping the prioritization aspect that already exists. The education for registered nurses who are not in the triage area can also be modified to shift the focus off of a general patient history and description of the chief complaint and onto additional detailed history as well as a heavy focus on providing efficient yet competent care after the initial examination in