Background:

Priority triage is a complex decision-making process used to assess clinical severity.

Objective:

This study aims to explore the association between the socio-professional characteristics of emergency department nurses and their perceptions of decision-making skills during triage.

Methodology:

A cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was conducted with a sample of 47 nurses. The Portuguese version of the Triage Decision-Making Inventory (TDMI) was used for data collection.

Results:

Regarding nurses’ perceptions of their decision-making skills, the highest mean score (4.94 ± 0.420) was found in cognitive characteristics/Skill confidence and the lowest mean score in Intuition (4.44 ± 0.697). Significant correlations were found between cognitive characteristics/skill confidence, intuition, and critical thinking and the length of experience in emergency departments, as well as between cognitive characteristics/Skill confidence and the triage nurses’ age and professional experience.

Conclusion:

Experience in the emergency department has a positive impact on triage decision-making skills. Nurses place the highest value on cognitive characteristics/skill confidence.

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