How to Assess Triage Skills

Triage refers to the process medical professionals use to determine the order patients will be seen according to the severity of their medical condition. Triage skills are important for those working in emergency medicine where multiple patients must be cared for at one time. Health care professionals who wish to work in triage must possess the proper skills and be able to apply those skills to the patients who show up at the emergency room. Individuals must learn, practice, and have their skills evaluated prior to working as triage specialists.

Instructions

• 1

  A triage specialist must know anatomy, physiology and how diseases work to assure that patients receive care in the order of importance based on their medical condition. Make sure each candidate quickly and accurately performs a patient assessment to determine the patient’s condition. Each candidate must recognize signs/symptoms of each medical condition and should know which conditions require immediate medical attention (such as life-threatening conditions) and which can wait (such as a sprained ankle).

• 2

  Test the triage candidate's communication skills by having her deliver a message to a busy team of health care professionals to see if the individual is capable of getting the team's attention. How well does the individual deliver the message, does she give all the details of the message or only part of the message? Determine if the individual has the ability to interrupt to convey important information when needed.

• 3

  Assess triage skills by using life-like scenarios to evaluate a candidate’s ability to triage patients. Give the candidate a real-life scenario such as a car accident involving multiple victims suffering from various injuries and medical conditions. Ask the candidate to talk his way through patient assessments. Determine if he recognizes life-threatening injuries and conditions and properly assigns the order patients need to be seen. Assess how the candidate communicates information to other health care providers.

• 4

  Assign each participating coworker a medical condition or injury and have each one act as if truly suffering from the symptoms. Coworkers will be able to change the details and tailor their given condition to test the triage skills of the candidate. For example, a coworker given chest pain can begin by telling the candidate he was pulling weeds when the pain first began and lead the candidate to believe the chest pain may be the result of a muscle pull. During the evaluation, the coworker may change the symptoms and present as a cardiac problem, by telling the candidate he is now experiencing shortness of breath, fatigue and chest pain that goes down the arm. Patient conditions can change from one moment to the next and it is important to test the candidate’s ability to recognize changes, reevaluate patient conditions to determine if the change in condition affects the order in which the patient is seen and how to get that patient immediate medical attention when changes in condition warrant an immediate response.

• 5

  Before permanently assigning a candidate to triage, she should be given a temporary position (with a skilled triage specialist directly supervising) to determine how the candidate works with and reacts to real patients. Using triage skills in a controlled environment on fellow coworkers or by using verbal scenarios is very different from the chaos that may occur during medical emergencies. Determine how well the candidate recognizes signs/symptoms of each condition/injury. Look to see if the candidate recognizes changes in a patient’s condition quickly and how she reacts to each change. Watch the candidate’s communication skills to determine if she has the ability to convey important information regarding a patient’s condition in a timely manner and if the correct information is given to health care providers. Assess the candidate’s ability to triage multiple patients at one time by quickly performing patient assessments, assigning the order each patient will be seen by health care providers and getting each patient the care he needs at a given time.