Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Australian Mental Health Triage Scale in the emergency department: The case of Turkey

AbstractPurposeTo examine the effectiveness of the Australian Mental Health Triage Scale(AMHTS) in Turkey.Design and MethodsThe study is a methodological and semiexperimental study. It was carried out with 30 emergency service nurses and 378 psychiatric patients at a university hospital. The validity and reliability of the AMHTS were examined.FindingsThe reliability of the AMHTS is good level (Cohen'sκ = 0.631,p <  0.05). It is valid for making the patients’ waiting time in triage more efficient(p <  0.05), and increases the nurses’ ability to determine the treatment acuity.Practice ImplicationsIt is an important tool that affects the quality of emergency psychiatric care for nurses working in the emergency departments of general hospitals.
Source: Perspectives in Psychiatric Care - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research