Progress and Future Challenges after Introducing an In-Hospital Triage System with the Use of the Japan Triage and Acuity Scale / 日本農村医学会雑誌

　　Yuri Kumiai General Hospital is a community-based core hospital that treated approximately 14,000 patients in the emergency outpatient clinic in 2014, with approximately 7,800 walk-in patients on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. In April 2014, we incorporated an inhospital triage system for walk-in patients on weekends and holidays to quickly diagnose the conditions of patients in a crowded waiting room and promptly treat those requiring urgent care. Furthermore, in April 2015, we introduced the Japanese Triage and Acuity Scale (JTAS) to standardize the quality of triage care. Evaluation and analysis of 7,454 triage forms to identify future challenges revealed that the triage rate was 88% immediately after the incorporation of the JTAS, with 93 incomplete triage forms, 13 undertriage cases, and 18 overtriage cases. This showed that the severity of emergency was determined based only on subjective symptoms and complaints, with no application of objective physical assessment. We presented a list of analysis results to triage staff, further assessed undertriage cases, and provided feedback in monthly workshops. At 1 year after introduction, the rate of triage increased to 95%, with 12 incomplete forms, 9 undertriage cases, and 21 overtriage cases, and the number of cases increased where the severity of emergency was determined accurately from the entire clinical picture including vital signs and the cause of injury. These findings suggest that use of the JTAS enabled a standardized triage system to be established and that the assessment of undertriage cases and organization of continuous workshops improved the quality of triage and the skill of triage nurses.

Use of Preventive Measures Against Falls in Children and Assessment Score Sheet for Falling / 日本農村医学会雑誌

  A look at the reports of accidents or near accidents in our hospital revealed that the incidence of falls or stumbles in children was at the top of the list in frequency. In the past five years, our pediatric ward has experienced an average of about 10 such cases annually. Regarding the risk of falling, advice is given by nurses to parents during the orientation session when their babies and little children are hospitalized. However,the advice was entirely subjective - not going by any rule or guidelines. Recently, an assessment score sheet for the risk factors for falling and a preventive measure against falls was drafted and trial used, with the result that changes were observed in the way the nurses in their 20s watch and take care of the little patients. Moreover, they became able to look after the infants according to their age, developmental stage and disposition. The use of the common pamphlet helped the young nurses gain selfconfidence even though they are inexperienced in child-rearing and nursing.  From these results, we concluded that the uniform guideline and order of priority led to the improvement of the quality of nursing in the nurses in their 20s.