Knowledge of triage in the senior medical students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

INTRODUCTION: Triage is a response to the problem of overcrowding in Emergency Departments (EDs) and accuracy of decisions made by the triage unit affects the ultimate outcome of EDs. This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge of triage among last year medical students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional analytical study whose subjects were all the senior students of medicine (62) in the last year of medicine from January to June 2013 who attended emergency medicine course in the screen room of 2 University Hospitals. This questionnaire was designed in 3 sections including personal data, 15 questions on knowledge of triage and 10 case scenarios for triage decision making and completed by the students. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS statistical software (version 14) using independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient (p≤0.001). RESULTS: The total mean score of the participants was 10.6±1.5, ranging from 7 to 13. 58(93.5%) students had poor triage knowledge. In the scenario’s section, the percentage of correct triage by students was 49.2% and those of over and under triage were 28.1% and 22.7%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the triage accuracy and level of triage (ESI 4) (p≤0.001). CONCLUSION: The level of knowledge of triage in the last year medical students was poor, although most of them had passed a course in the screen room. It is recommended that medical students’ educational courses should include sections on the knowledge of triage in emergency rooms.