Date of Award
Spring 5-30-2022
Document Type
DNP Project
Project Team Faculty Member
Bernadette Sobczak
Project Team Faculty Member
April Schmidt
Keywords
Tele-triage, emergency department, door-to-provider, wait times, protocol
Abstract
Nationwide, the volume of emergency department (ED) visits has steadily increased over the last several decades. This steady increase in volume frequently causes ED crowding and considerable delays in patient evaluation and treatment. Recently, teletriage has been used in emergency departments to evaluate less emergent patient needs while freeing up in-house providers to care for more critical patients. The goal of this DNP project was to develop a protocol for the utilization of teletriage in an Emergency Department in a level 1 trauma center in central Illinois using nurse practitioners to assess patients in the waiting room and order appropriate tests to improve patient outcomes. After educating staff on the protocol, a four-week trial of the tele-triage protocol was conducted on Mondays and Thursdays. Following the trial, staff were surveyed to evaluate the process to determine what improvements could be made. Data was collected pre and post implementation regarding the average door-to-provider time, number of patients who left without being seen and overall length of stay. A decrease in door-to-provider time, decrease in overall length of stay, and a decrease in the number of patients who left without being seen was found. Staff feedback indicated that additional staffing was needed and a separate room for the process would be beneficial for long term success. Future expansion of this project might include adapting the protocol to allow providers to treat and discharge patients via the tele-triage process.
Recommended Citation
Tuetken, Megan; Hamlin, Sierra; and Spaulding, Sydney, "Implementation of a Tele-Triage Protocol in an Emergency Department Setting" (2022). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 187.
https://spark.siue.edu/dnpprojects/187
Download Full Text Above