Triage Specialist Course Comments
"Triage First is providing leadership in an area of nursing that is one of the most difficult but also one of the most overlooked and discounted by other healthcare providers."
Connie B., BSN, RN, Director
"Your dedication, commitment, and passion was very apparent and very contagious and inspiring. The course held my attention and exceeded my expectations."
Kimberly M., BSN, MSN, RN
"Exellent course!!"
C. B., PhD, RN
"Wonderful program. Inspirational, motivating, great instructors and numerous personal touches which made it a great experience."
S. R., BSN, RN
"It was a once in a lifetime experience. I have never been so tired and learned so much in one class." Anna M., BSN, RN
"I thought both instructors were great! I was captivated by their knowledge." M. F., BSN, RN
Something beautiful...
Triage Specialist Course
Comprehensive Training for the Triage Educator
March 31-April 4, 2008
Asheville, NC
Now accepting applications
More info
Two-Day Course
Comments
"Absolutely, positively awesome course!"
"The instructors are dynamite!"
"Their knowledge base, expertise, and professionalism clearly shine through."
"Triage First's course will greatly add to my nursing practice. I sincerely thank you for that!"
"Everything covered was nurse-driven – this class is for nurses, by nurses."
"Two-day course is real world knowledge – now I can't wait to go to the Triage Specialist Course."
Triage First, Inc.
Email
info@triagefirst.com
Website
www.triagefirst.com
Call toll-free
(866) 369-8029
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Ask the Experts
Immediate Bedding
Question:There seems to be a lot of discussion recently about “immediate bedding.” What does this mean, and what good does it do to put a patient in a treatment bed when we are so busy we don’t even know a patient is put into a room we are responsible for?
Answer: Thanks for bringing up some common misconceptions regarding immediate bedding. Your question, however points to several issues, which we can address individually.
Perhaps one way to define immediate bedding would be to first remind you of what it is NOT. Immediate bedding is not: put any presenting patient into any open bed whenever you can (although some have seen it this way.) Rather, it is a systematic part of a rapid triage assessment that helps to identify those who may safely bypass a full comprehensive triage assessment. Primarily the goal of this is to safeguard the patient in need of immediate care. But it also addresses the need for efficient patient throughput.
In order to determine who may quickly and safely bypass the comprehensive triage assessment, the nurse at triage must be able to answer YES to all three of these questions:
- Is the patient obviously sick OR am I able to quickly and confidently determine acuity and disposition?
- Is there an open bed?
- Is there an available care provider? (A care provider may be a nurse, physician or mid level provider.)
By answering YES to all three of these questions, the nurse at triage will avoid several pitfalls. One such pitfall: a nursing nightmare – where very low acuity patients have bypassed the comprehensive triage assessment, and overwhelmed the treatment nurses. Another might be where an acutely ill patient is placed in an empty room, but is essentially abandoned because there is no physician or nurse to attend to their immediate needs. Either of these extremes can be avoided by the triage nurse who understands that if any answer to the three criteria is NO, then it is best for the patient to remain with the triage nurse for a comprehensive triage assessment, and continue to remain with that nurse until the three criteria can be met.
A separate yet important issue brought up in the question submitted here is that of communication. If a nurse on the treatment team routinely finds patients placed in their room without any notification – or communication of such, this is a real safety issue. A patient placed in a room without knowledge of the charge nurse or primary nurse, may just as well be abandoned in the lobby! Please be aware that the Joint Commission 2007 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) clearly and definitively address this issue in NPSG #2, which reads: “Improve the effectiveness of communication among care givers.” Included in the multiple requirements of this NPSG is the “hand-off” communication required at shift changes or personnel changes that must include “interactive communications allowing for questioning between the giver and receiver of patient information” as well as “up-to-date information regarding the patient’s care, treatment and services, condition and any recent or anticipated changes."
Here is another opportunity to be reminded of ENA’s Principles of Triage, where communication with the treatment team is so vital to informed bed placement and effective patient throughput.
Ask the Experts a question by clicking here.
 Copyright 2008 Triage First, Inc.
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