Abstract

Emergency Severity Index (ESI) is a triage tool used in rating the acuity and severity of patients in the Emergency Department (ED). This study assessed the adoption of Emergency Severity Index (ESI) among nurses in the Emergency Department of selected hospitals in Lagos state. A descriptive research design was chosen to carry out the research. The study population was 185 nurses working in the emergency department of National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi Lagos [NOHIL], Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba [LUTH], Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja [LASUTH] and General Hospital Gbagada. Sample size comprised 139 nurses selected using a convenient sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the nurses, but only 130 research instruments were retrieved. Data were processed through statistical package for social science (SPSS), version 25. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hypothesis tested using Chi-square. Results revealed that only respondents from LUTH used the ESI (20 (15.4%)) while those from the other hospitals used both face value and Professional Nursing Experience. About 110 (84.6%) of the respondents claimed that they have never used ESI during triage. There was a significant association (p<0.05) between “years of professional work experience” and “extent of adoption of ESI with Chi-square Test (X²=88.067, p=0.001). The extent of ESI adoption among nurses is poor among nurses in the emergency department of the selected hospitals in Lagos State. This study recommended that the hospital management and stakeholders should adopt ESI in their healthcare facilities in order to enable appropriate, accurate and timely triage procedure.

Keywords: Adoption of ESI, Emergency Severity Index (ESI), Over-triage, Severity, Under-triaged.