Nurses' experiences of emergency department triage during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia

Purpose To explore the experiences of nurses working in emergency departments in selecting and triaging patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design Descriptive phenomenology was applied in this study. Methods Data were collected from nurses working at hospitals in Indonesia using snowball sampling and telephone interviews. A total of 10 emergency nurses participated, and Colaizzi's method of data analysis was applied. Findings Six themes and 10 subthemes emerged. The main themes were extreme challenges in triage, feeling of responsibility under uncontrolled spread and infection, physical and psychological exhaustion, discovering strategies under difficult circumstances, looking for positive reinforcement, and optimism in togetherness. Nurses had to deal with the challenge of COVID-19 in the ED triage, interestingly so, the nurses they have shown the development of professional responsibility. Nurses are also experienced in finding patient selection and triage strategies and the sense of optimism that may influence strategy and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions This findings identify nurses' experiences in dealing with the extreme challenges of emergency department triage as well as their associated strategies and optimism. Clinical relevance Providing support to emergency nurses, improving emergency department triage, and community empowerment are suggested as strategies to improve nursing care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Automated summary

The study explored the experiences of nurses working in emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing extreme challenges they faced and the strategies they developed to cope with them, as well as their optimistic attitude. To improve nursing care, it is suggested to provide support to emergency nurses, improve emergency department triage, and empower the community.