Emergency department nurses' self-reported triage decision-making abilities and associated factors: a cross-sectional study in three tertiary hospitals in Sichuan, China.

Authors

Yingying Zhao, Juan Hu, Jing Zhao, Lan Wang, Qiu Jin, Humin Huang

Published in

BMC nursing. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate emergency department (ED) nurses' self-reported triage decision-making abilities and the associated factors, providing evidence for the development of a standardized triage training system.
Convenience sampling was adopted. An online questionnaire survey was conducted among 549 ED nurses from three tertiary hospitals in Sichuan, China from May 6 to May 17, 2025. The survey covered general information about the hospitals, respondents' demographic characteristics, and the Chinese version of the Triage Decision-Making Inventory (TDMI).
The ED nurses' mean TDMI score was 182.54 ± 25.30, with mean item scores of 5.15 ± 0.71 for critical thinking, 5.07 ± 0.73 for cognitive behaviors, 4.78 ± 0.71 for triage experience and confidence, and 4.67 ± 0.84 for intuition. Univariate analysis showed that 13 factors-including hospital type, age, nurse level, years of work experience, and receipt of formal triage training-were associated with ED nurses' TDMI scores (all P < 0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that specialty hospital (β = -0.132), age (β = -0.150), nurse level (β = 0.157), receipt of formal triage training (β = 0.221), familiarity with adult triage criteria (β = 0.221), and inclusion of case-based discussions in triage training (β = 0.099) were independent factors associated with TDMI scores (all P < 0.05), accounting for 18.3% of the total variation (adjusted R² = 0.183).
The self-reported triage decision-making abilities of ED nurses in the three tertiary hospitals were at an upper-intermediate level, characterized by multidimensional imbalance and significant individual differences. Intuition may be a key area associated with improvement in self-reported triage decision-making abilities. It is recommended that a standardized triage training system be established, the application of triage criteria be strengthened, and case-based discussions be promoted during triage training. These measures are associated with improving triage decision-making among ED nurses.

PMID:
42469830
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Jul 2026.

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