The reliability of the RETTS© triage scale after an educational intervention resulted in moderate agreement.

There was a total overall agreement regarding RETTS© final triage level in only 8.7% (4 of 46) of the scenarios.

In over half of the scenarios, there are disagreements over the dividing line stable/unstable.

Different pedagogical methods could potentially be used as a for triage education in emergency care to increase accuracy.

To determine the reliability of application of the RETTS© triage scale after an educational intervention using paper-based scenarios in emergency care education.

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.

In this prospective cross-sectional study at two universities students undergoing education in emergency care used RETTS© to assess triage level in 46 paper-based scenarios.

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.

Application of the RETTS© triage scale after an educational intervention with paper-based simulation in emergency care education resulted in moderate agreement about the final levels of triage.

RETTS©

Triage

Cross-sectional

Educational intervention

Emergency care education

Paper-based simulation

Reliability

Registered Nurse

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.