Effects of Developing Registered Nurses' Competency in Assessing Emergency Cases and Severity in Outpatient Triage and Clinical Incidents at the Outpatient Department of Hangdong Hospital, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

This one-group quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effects of developing the competencies of professional nurses in assessing the urgency and severity of outpatients and clinical incidents in the outpatient department of Hang Dong Hospital, Chiang Mai Province. The sample consisted of 15 professional nurses selected through purposive sampling. Research instruments included 1) a training program using simulated scenarios; 2) a competency assessment tool for evaluating urgency and severity; 3) an accuracy assessment form for outpatient urgency and severity evaluation; and 4) a clinical incident data recording form. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way repeated measures analysis of variance, and the chi-square test.

The study found that after training using simulated scenarios, the participants' competency scores in assessing the urgency and severity of outpatients significantly differed before and after training, as well as four weeks post-training, at a statistical significance level of 0.05. However, there was no significant difference in the accuracy of outpatient urgency and severity assessments or the number of clinical incidents before and four weeks after training. Therefore, the training program using simulated scenarios can be applied to enhance the competency of professional nurses in outpatient departments, ultimately improving the quality of outpatient care.