Development of a New MOPH ED Triage model for Emergency Departments of Yala Hospital Network

Abstract

This developmental research, based on MOPH ED Triage, aimed to develop and evaluate a screening model for emergency departments of Yala hospital network. The study was divided in three phases. Phase 1 consisted in studying the current situation. Phase 2 in drafting the new model, validated by three experts, and Phase 3 into an evaluation of the model. Sample was 134 patients admitted to the emergency unit and 35 health professionals working at Yala hospital. Research instruments were: 1) patient record form, 2) personal information form, and 3) a questionnaire for measuring the nurse satisfaction in using the model. All items had content validity of .60, while Cronbach's alpha coefficient yielded 0.82 for reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were as follows.

1. The review of current situation allowed to identify 4 important issues: 1) differences in patient screening procedure, 2) incomplete data record for patients screened at level 1 and 2, 3)communication problems between nurses and patients regarding patient screening, and 4) screening ability of nurses.

2. The MOPH model comprised the following elements: 1) a patient screening guideline based on MOPH ED Triage of emergency department (Method (M)), 2) an improved pattern screening form for accidents, emergency and fast- track patients (Originality (O)), 3) a flow chart symbol communication system with patients (Patient (P)), as well as 4) a HosXp program record (HosXp program (H)).

3. Results from the evaluation process showed that the screening was 90.3% accurate, while input data of fast-track patients was complete at 93.6%. Data entry into HosXp program was 84.7% complete. It found that 8.8% did not meet the screening criteria. 2.2% of the screening level was changed from level 1 to level 4. In addition, the mean score of the nurses’ satisfaction in using the model was at a high level (M=77, SD=0.99)

Therefore, in order to increase the efficiency of MOPH ED Triage operations, the Emergency Department should encourage the network to run the operations with the same standard at the provincial level.