Strategies to enhance knowledge and practical skills of triage amongst nurses working in the emergency departments of rural hospitals in South Africa

Abstract

Purpose: Lack of knowledge and practical skills on triage remains a global problem, especially within rural hospitals, and very little is known about enhancing the knowledge and skills of emergency nursing staff in rural hospitals of South Africa. The objective was to describe the perceived strategies for enhancing knowledge and practices of triage among nurses working in the emergency departments (EDs) of rural hospitals in South Africa. Research methods: A descriptive qualitative research design was applied to achieve the research objective. A non-probability sampling method was applied to select 17 professional nurses from rural hospitals. An unstructured face-to-face interview method was used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using Tesch’s method of data analysis. Results: The study findings highlighted the academic needs of nurses working in the ED of rural hospitals. Two themes emerged from this study; (1) The consistent description of the importance of triage training for emergency unit staff, and (2) The description of measures to enhance triage practices amongst emergency unit staff. Findings indicated that triage knowledge and practice remains a challenge, but with formulated strategies like continuous training by workshops, refresher courses, and offering a training module on triage, evaluation of developed guidelines and benchmarks is often enhanced. Conclusions: The study describes the strategies to enhance the conversion of knowledge and practice of triage amongst nurses working in the ED of rural hospitals. The paper argues that the knowledge and practical skills of nurses working in ED are enhanced through the provision of continuous training as workshops, triage module, evaluating the developed guidelines to implement triage, and benchmarking with other hospitals.