Background:

The Manchester Triage (MT) is essential in emergency services, setting the patient’s clinical priority and the recommended time until medical assessment. Different factors can condition it.

Objective:

To know the nurses’ perceptions of the contributions of the MT and its influencing factors.

Methodology:

This is an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative study, with semi-structured interviews with ten nurses from two Portuguese emergency departments, conducted between January and February 2020 and submitted to content analysis.

Results:

Three thematic areas emerged - The contributions of the MT, Factors influencing its performance, and Suggestions for improvement.

Conclusion:

The contributions of the MT regarded priority setting, patient service, and the improvement of service operation. Factors that influenced triage performance were human and material resources, physical structures, MT protocol, service management, and patient- and nurse-related factors. Service management, MT protocol, and nurse selection were areas suggested for improvement.

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