Authors
- Trish Sutton1,
- Sandra Sullivan1
- Sacred Heart Palliative Care Service1
2015
Excerpt
Introduction: The Sacred Heart Community Palliative Care team developed a triage tool and implemented a formal system of triage in a quality project in 2011. This was in response to staff concerns about managing a large volume of referrals, a perception of pressure to see all referrals quickly and a feeling that current patient needs were not being met. In the years since, referrals to the service have increased (635 in 2011 to 721 in 2014), with no change in the staffing resources. Referrals are received from a number of sources and the system of triage has been integrated in to the usual work practices of the team.
Method: Information and feedback from the team has been sourced in team meetings. Anonymous electronic surveys have been used to obtain qualitative data on staff perception of workload management, use of a triage system and its positive and negative impacts and the prioritisation of patient assessment.
Results: Initial responses from staff to the introduction of the triage tool was positive, with 83% feeling confident to do a phone assessment to triage patients, and 100% of staff Agreeing or Strongly Agreeing that the introduction of a formal triage system had improved their workload management.
Conclusion: The implementation of a formal triage system has had a sustained positive effect on the perception of workload management and appropriate prioritisation of visits to newly referred patients.
Method: Information and feedback from the team has been sourced in team meetings. Anonymous electronic surveys have been used to obtain qualitative data on staff perception of workload management, use of a triage system and its positive and negative impacts and the prioritisation of patient assessment.
Results: Initial responses from staff to the introduction of the triage tool was positive, with 83% feeling confident to do a phone assessment to triage patients, and 100% of staff Agreeing or Strongly Agreeing that the introduction of a formal triage system had improved their workload management.
Conclusion: The implementation of a formal triage system has had a sustained positive effect on the perception of workload management and appropriate prioritisation of visits to newly referred patients.