REDUCE RISK OF MISTRIAGE

Increase Patient Safety with Continuous Triage Competency Training

Once nurses have achieved a solid foundation in triage education, it is critical to ensure competency on an ongoing basis. Continuing Triage And Competency Training Series (CONTACTS) is the final element in Triage First’s Pathway to Triage Competency. It is an ongoing series of courses that advances clinical expertise and conceptual knowledge. This program is an essential element of every ED nurse’s lifelong learning curriculum because it encourages continuous study into the nuances that impact appropriate disposition through an effective use of either the ESI or CTAS five-level acuity scale. Each CONTACTS course consists of ten clinical scenarios including one presentation of multiple cases simutaneously adapted from actual patient charts, answers and clues, teaching points, and a post-test. The clinical scenarios referenced in the CONTACTS courses were specifically selected because they contain various unique patient characteristics. If unnoticed in the clinical setting, these unique characteristics could result in mistriage and inappropriate disposition, which significantly impact patient risk and safety.

Impact:
Increase Patient Safety

• Decrease mistriage and inappropriate disposition
  
• Accurately recognize potential complications at triage

Improve Triage Competency

• Gain a thorough understanding of five-scale acuity discriminators
  
• Advance clinical expertise and conceptual knowledge
  
• Enhance the implementation of ESI or CTAS
  

Features:

• Interactive, realistic clinical presentations
  
• ESI and CTAS specific education
  
• Quick reference documents applicable to the presentation
  
• Teaching points reinforce answers and highlight clues
  
• Includes ED-specific issues related to patient throughput
  
• Complemented by Triage First’s Five-Level ED Triage Acuity and ED Triage Clinical Expertise courses

This course is essential for:

• All nursing staff in emergency departments who have completed prerequisite courses
  

This course supports:

• 2008 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals relating to teaching advanced clinical skills for the early recognition of patients changing conditions.
  

Course Objectives

• Interpret stated reason for visit, and translate into an appropriate chief complaint.
  
• Recognize potential complications at triage (associated risk factors with the presented disease, social, or psychological process) and predict commonly seen sequelae.
  
• Discuss the appropriate designation of acuity according to the chosen five-level acuity scale.
  
• Utilize “Clues” and “Teaching Points” to gain information pertaining to the disease process or injury in general.
  
• Apply knowledge of specific case presentations to a wider patient population at triage by identifying both common and covert presentations that are life-threatening or emergent.

Course Objectives
Practice Scenarios (10)

1. Presentation
   
2. Answers and Clues
   - Subjective Assessment
   - Objective Assessment
   - Vital Signs
   
3. Teaching Points
   
4. Reference Documents

Continuing Education Credit
Triage First, Inc. is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the North Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited provider by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. This series has been approved for 4.0 continuing education hours.

Subject Matter Experts
Rebecca S. McNair, RN, CEN, Deb Jeffries, RN, CEN, and Bunny W. Eubank, RN, BA, BSN