Related Experiment Videos
Decision making by emergency nurses in triage assessments
1Faculty of Health, University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury.
Accident and Emergency Nursing
|May 8, 1999
Summary
Emergency department nurses use more probability judgments under uncertainty during patient triage. Experience influences decision-making, with experienced nurses relying more on memory and making quicker judgments.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Nursing Practice
- Decision Science
Background:
- Patient triage in emergency departments is a critical decision-making process for prioritizing care.
- Limited research exists on the cognitive processes underlying triage decision-making by nurses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe triage decision-making processes in nurses with varying experience levels.
- To investigate the impact of situational uncertainty on nurses' use of probability judgments (heuristics) during triage.
Main Methods:
- Simulated six real-life triage cases presented to 20 nurses (varying experience).
- Collected and analyzed verbal protocols to understand decision-making steps.
- Utilized statistical tests (t-test) to assess the effect of uncertainty on probability judgments.
Main Results:
- Increased uncertainty in triage situations led all nurses to use probability judgments more frequently (P=0.03).
- The heuristic of representativeness was most commonly employed under uncertainty.
- No consistent agreement on triage categories was observed across nurses for specific cases.
- Experienced nurses reported higher confidence, relied more on past cases, gathered less data, and made more judgments.
Conclusions:
- Triage decision-making is influenced by uncertainty and relies on heuristics like representativeness.
- Past experiences significantly shape triage judgments, particularly for experienced nurses.
- Further research should explore variable category use, the role of experience, and develop standardized triage decision rules.