Educational intervention in triage with the Swedish triage scale RETTS(C), with focus on specialist nurse students in ambulance and emergency care - A cross-sectional study

Aim: To determine the reliability of application of the RETTS(C) triage scale after an educational intervention using paper-based scenarios in emergency care education. Background: Knowledge about and education in triage are important factors in triagescale implementation. Presenting students with a large number of triage scenarios is a common part of triage education. Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study at two universities students undergoing education in emergency care used RETTS(C) to assess triage level in 46 paper-based scenarios. Results: 57 students in the study made 2590 final triage decisions. Fleiss Kappa for final triage was 0.411 which is in the lower range of moderate agreement. In 25 of 46 (53.4%) scenarios, final triage levels did not agree about whether the case was stable or unstable. Conclusion/Implications: Application of the RETTS(C) triage scale after an educational intervention with paper-based simulation in emergency care education resulted in moderate agreement about the final levels of triage.