BackgroundIn the emergency department, it is important to identify and prioritize who requires an urgent intervention in a short time. Triage helps recognize the urgency among patients. An accurate triage decision helps patients receive the emergency service in the most appropriate time. Various triage systems have been developed and verified to assist healthcare providers to make accurate triage decisions. The triage accuracy can represent the quality of emergency service, but there is a lack of review studies addressing this topic.MethodsA literature search was conducted in four electronic databases where ‘emergency nursing’ and ‘triage accuracy’ were used as keywords. Studies published from 2008 January to 2018 August were included as potential subjects. Nine studies were included in this review after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied.ResultsWritten case scenarios and retrospective review were commonly used to examine the triage accuracy. The triage accuracy from studies was in moderate level. The single-center studies which held better results than those from multi-center studies revealed the need of triage training and consistent training between emergency departments.ConclusionsRegular refresher triage training, collaboration between emergency departments and continuous monitoring were necessary to strengthen the use of triage systems and improve nurse’s triage performance.
Objectives Hypertension is a well-known global risk factor associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Medication use and urban-rural disparities in medication usage patterns affect hypertension management. We investigated patient characteristics across different geographical areas to determine factors that affect medication use among Chinese patients aged ≥ 45 years, diagnosed with hypertension. Methods Data were extracted from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2018. We recorded differences in medication use, advice from healthcare providers, and health-related behaviors between urban and rural areas. Results The study included 2115 patients with hypertension (mean age 62.06 years). Advice received and medication use were significantly lower in patients from rural areas than in those from urban areas. Our findings showed that urban residence, comorbidities, advice regarding lifestyle changes, and smoking were positive predictors of medication use, whereas alcohol consumption and regular exercise reduced the likelihood of medication use. Discussion We observed urban-rural disparities in hypertension management, and several strategies, including distribution of reminders and written materials can be integrated into current clinical practice to improve the rate of medication use among rural residents with hypertension.
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