Our next Triage Specialist Course - Comprehensive Training for the Triage Educator is scheduled for September 8-12, 2008, here in Asheville, North Carolina. The course is strictly limited to 14 participants. The cost is $7200.00 per person. Meals and lodging are included. If you are considering the Triage Specialist Course, please submit an application as soon as possible. Our course weeks are limited with only one more remaining for the year.

Our Triage Specialist Course is designed to produce two things: (1) a Triage Resource Nurse, and (2) a Triage Educator with a two-year license to present our two-day Comprehensive ED Triage Course to all employees of their ED (that also includes all our online modules). We offer a dual license. The hospital who sends the nurse to the Triage Specialist Course is licensed to have the Triage Educator present our material and program at the Hospital facility, and the Triage Educator is licensed individually. The Triage Educator and hospital will "own" (with some restrictions) our course for two years. There are other add-ons as well. There is a one-year subscription to use our online Triage Acuity Audit Guide (a $1000 value), and a full year of our CONTACTS online competency course ($129 value).

The Specialist Course itself has been described as our "Comprehensive ED Triage Course on steroids," and that is a fair assessment of what one experiences. It's an intense immersion into triage and ED processes. The classes are all day and into the evenings for reading assignments and group discussion. The last day of the program is a full day of testing and testing stations.

Triage Specialist Course Description, and the Comprehensive ED Triage Course Administration

Attendance at the Triage Specialist Course entitles the Triage Educator to (included in the price):

1. Five (5) nights lodging, Sunday through Thursday
2. Single occupancy per room
3. Minimum of three (3) meals per day, Monday through Thursday; two meals on Friday (breakfast and lunch)
4. Drinks, snacks and other refreshments during the term of the Course

The course of instruction, conducted over a five-day period, shall include (but is not limited to) the following topics:

1. Public speaking and presentation techniques
2. Logistics and administration of the ED Course
3. Triage concepts and process
4. Resource nurse and process improvements
5. Caregiver and patient satisfaction
6. Use of Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (CTAS) or Emergency Severity Index (ESI)
7. Systematic triage assessment
8. Special patient situations: anger, critically ill or injured, psychiatric, victims of abuse
9. Clinical expertise
10. Resource nurse and triage preceptors
11. Exams to test the Triage Educator’s mastery of the course content

Upon successful completion of the Specialist Course, the Triage Educator will receive:

1. Twenty-four (24) months of restricted license to present Triage First's Comprehensive ED Triage Course to all facility employees
2. A twelve (12) month use of the Triage First online Triage Acuity Audit Guide (TAAG) for preceptor and chart audit purposes
3. One full year online subscription to Triage First’s competency pathway CONTACTS (Continuing Triage And Compentency Training Series)
4. An Educator Instruction Manual, a PowerPoint presentation of Triage First's Comprehensive ED Triage Course, the Comprehensive ED Triage Course Lecture Notes with periodic updates, and Triage First's Comprehensive ED Triage Course participant workbook master copy
5. Educator Support (email or call-in) – call-in support available during standard workdays, Monday thru Friday, 0900-1700 Eastern Standard Time

The Triage Educator will be presenting Triage First's Comprehensive ED Triage Course to employees at their facility, in their system, or perhaps in community hospitals. In order to make that experience as complete as possible:

1. Each participant completing the Comprehensive ED Triage Course will have access to all of Triage First's internet online courses
2. The Triage Educator will have use of a master copy of the ED Course workbook to produce one workbook for each workshop participant
3. Each participant will be able to print out their Continuing Education Contact Hours after successfully completing all segments of the course
4. Triage First will assign and administer the services of a User Identification and User Password for each registered employee participant
5. Call-in support for online assistance during standard workdays, Monday thru Friday, 0900-1700 Eastern Standard Time - will be available to all participants and educators
6. Triage First will provide updates of the course materials and other educational materials for which Triage First reserves copyright
7. Triage First will pay for and conduct on-site and/or off-site monitoring of the performance of the Triage Educator in the presentation of the Comprehensive ED Triage Course

The Renewal is as follows:

• An additional twenty-four (24) months of restricted license to present the Comprehensive ED Triage Course ($1000.00)
• An Educator Instruction Manual, a PowerPoint presentation of the ED Course, ED Course Lecture Notes with periodic updates - as needed for renewal
• Educator Support (email or call-in) – call-in support available during standard workdays, Monday thru Friday, 0900-1700 Eastern Standard Time

For costs and other information, please contact Triage First ; or call 828-628-8022. We are currently accepting applications only for the next course scheduled for September 8-12, 2008. Application cut-off for this course is July 20, 2008. If you are considering the Course in the future, please submit an application as soon as possible since class sizes are limited. We accept only the top applicants for admission into the program.

The minimum requirements for an RN to attend the Triage Specialist Course is two years at the same emergency department, with at least 18 months of triage experience. Acceptance is granted by a points system, and a phone interview. Advanced certifications are a plus. Attendance at our Comprehensive ED Triage Course is a definite positive. Nurses being considered for acceptance must be commended by letter by their nurse manager or higher authority. It is expected that the nurse being considered for the Triage Specialist Course is a tenured team member and supports managers and administrators - is willing and capable of leading change initiative for the emergency department processes and patient throughput, and is committed to the patient population served by that emergency department. The applicant nurse need NOT be an educator in order to attend the Triage Specialist Course, but they will be a Triage First trained Triage Educator and Resource Nurse when they complete it!

Triage Specialist Course Application Form