Emergency Room Triage Area

An open room with recliners separated by cubicle curtains or partitions.

Emergency room triage area. In a walk in clinic or emergency department an interview with a triage nurse is a common first step to receiving care. When patients report to the emergency department of upmc western maryland our staff uses a method called triage to determine who needs to be seen first what this means is that we evaluate the severity of patient symptoms rather than take patients back to a room in the emergency department based on the order they checked in. Either by their own means or by that of an ambulance the emergency department is usually found in a hospital or. Facilities should make sure triage procedures are compliant with hipaa guidance and consider a multi step screening process to ensure patients with symptoms are not missed prior to entering the treatment area.

Carolyn townend has been working behind the triage desk for eight years and has been a nurse for closer to 15 so she knows how crucial the triage process is in ensuring the busy department runs smoothly. A cluster of triage rooms with support areas for staff. This position is an advanced rn practitioner or physician assistant who works in the triage area alongside the triage nurse to help. While the process for screening depends on facility layout and staffing the general steps include.

A nurse or physician is located at the ed entry to make an immediate patient assessment. The most common triaging system is the 4 level system. An emergency department ed also known as an accident emergency department a e emergency room er emergency ward ew or casualty department is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine the acute care of patients who present without prior appointment. Hers is one of the first faces a patient might see when they walk through the doors of the emergency department at st.

This does happen and is not uncommon but the majority of cases seen in a typical emergency department aren t quite this dramatic. Influencing the order and priority of emergency treatment emergency transport. For those responsible for the triage of patients arriving in the emergency department the purpose of triage is to determine to which predesignated patient care area the patient should be sent the locations to which the patients are triaged establishes priorities for care. He or she generally takes a brief medical history of the complaint and measures vital signs heart rate respiratory rate temperature and blood pressure in order to identify seriously ill persons who must receive immediate care.

Emergency department triage is increasingly instrumental in ensuring high quality timely care. The classic emergency room scene involves an ambulance screeching to a halt a gurney hurtling through the hallway and five people frantically working to save a person s life with only seconds to spare.