The Impact of Emergency Nurses’ Knowledge and Performance in Triage on Patient Safety and Crisis Management

Emergency departments (EDs) face high patient volumes and critical conditions, requiring rapid and accurate decision-making. Triage in EDs is a key process for prioritizing patients, optimizing resources, and maintaining safety during crises. This review examines nurses’ knowledge, skills, and performance in ED triage and their impact on patient safety and crisis management. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, DOAJ, and Google Scholar for studies published from ۲۰۱۶ to ۲۰۲۵. Keywords included Triage, Emergency Department, Patient Safety, HSE, Descriptive Study, and Cross-sectional. Twelve descriptive and cross-sectional studies were selected and analyzed. Results show that nurses’ knowledge, experience, structured training, and continuous performance monitoring improve triage accuracy, reduce clinical errors, enhance patient safety, and increase patient satisfaction. Organizational barriers such as staffing shortages and lack of systematic training were found to negatively influence triage quality. Enhancing nurses’ competence through ongoing education, structured protocols, and effective crisis resource management can significantly strengthen ED efficiency, patient safety, and HSE-based crisis preparedness. These findings provide evidence-based guidance for hospital administrators and policymakers aiming to optimize triage practices and improve emergency care outcomes.

Keywords:

Triage , Emergency Department , Patient Safety , HSE , Nurse Performance , Descriptive Study , Cross-sectional