Define Triage Drift

Emergency room nurses engage in triage drift.

Triage drift is an emergency room phenomenon in which nurses change previously made triage decisions based upon their subjective assessment of a patient's condition relative to other patients. This change involves either increasing or decreasing the patient's triage classification.

Context: Emergency Room

Emergency rooms are fast-paced environments where patients bring their most pressing medical concerns. Emergency room doctors and nurses must think quickly and accurately.

Triage

Triage occurs in disaster situations where casualty risks are high. Triage involves classifying patients based upon their likelihood of survival. Those most likely to survive receive priority over those least likely to survive.

Controversy

Triage drift is a controversial practice because life and death decisions are left to the subjective determinations of nurses in high-stress situations. Electronic decision-making alternatives, like e-triage, exist to reduce triage drift.

References

• Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Computer Cooperative Work, Limerick Ireland, 24-24, Bannon, Liam; Wagner, Ina; Gutwin, Carl; 2007
• Discovery Health: How Emergency Rooms Work
• Emergency Medicine News: Chaos, Turmoil, Hysteria: Just Another Night in Triage