In 2019, nearly half of all hospital contacts in Belgium took place through the emergency department, and more than a third of patients arrived after an accident or trauma. In instances of overcrowding, patients with minor orthopedic injuries face prolonged waiting times. Previous studies have shown that implementing triage protocols for medical imaging conducted by a triage nurse can reduce the Total Length of Stay (TLOS) for this patient group. This is a single-center, unblinded, randomized, controlled trial that aims to evaluate the impact of a nurse triage protocol on turnaround time (primary outcome), quality of care, and patient satisfaction. The study population consists of adults who present with minor orthopedic injuries below the elbow or knee and have an Emergency Severity Index (ESI) of 4 or 5. Participants are randomly assigned to either the 'nurse triage protocol' group (n=110) or the 'usual care' group (n=110).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
220
Medically approved and supervised standing order that allows trained ER nurses to start medical imaging (RX) for adult patients with minor traumata to the limbs.
University of Antwerp
Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
TLOS
Total length of stay
Time frame: 6-8 weeks
Patient satisfaction
Patient satisfaction measured by a 10-point Likert scale at discharge using a questionnaire
Time frame: 6-8 weeks
Treatment efficiency
Measurement if the patient diagnosis and/or treatment was correctly initiated at the Emergency Department. Yes = no additional diagnosis or treatments were necessary; No = within 14 days after discharge a change in treatment or new diagnosis was done. Data will be collected using the hospital's patient records or by calling patients if no information is found in the record.
Time frame: 6-8 weeks
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