Better health and ageing for all Australians

Emergency Triage Education Kit

Emergency Triage Education Kit - Fact Sheet

The Emergency Triage Education Kit (ETEK) provides a nationally consistent approach to the educational preparation of emergency clinicians for the triage role, and promotes the consistent application of the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS).

In this section:

Background

In Australia, all publicly funded Emergency Departments use the ATS to assess the clinical urgency of presentations. The ETEK uses over 150 paper-based scenarios, with proven inter-rater reliability, to assist with training emergency clinicians in the accurate and consistent use of the ATS.

In October 2007, the Department released the ETEK, which was distributed to all hospitals nationally. Provided as a resource for nurse educators, the ETEK was developed in collaboration with:
  • The College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA)
  • The Council of Remote Area Nurses Australia (CRANA)
  • The Australian College of Emergency Nursing (ACEN)
  • The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM)
Since its release, the ETEK has been well received nationally and internationally. The Department has received positive feedback from a range of health sector organisations and teaching facilities. International requests for the kit have been received from New Zealand, Chile, America and Switzerland.

Emergency Triage Education Kit

The ETEK consists of:
  • A Workbook - contains 12 individual learning units, covering obstetrics, paediatrics, mental health, communication in triage and rural/regional triage. It provides over 150 paper-based scenarios to reinforce and test what has been taught;
  • A Resource Book - provides the same information as in the Workbook, without the teaching strategies and scenarios, for use by emergency clinicians training for the triage role;
  • A Triage Quick Reference Guide - supplies tables and charts to assist with assessing presentations; and
  • A CD-ROM - contains PDFs of the Workbook and Triage Quick Reference Guide. Allows nurse educators to print additional copies or sections of the ETEK.

Further information

The ETEK has been distributed to every hospital in Australia and to all teaching facilities with post-graduate nursing courses. To access the ETEK, click here. If you would prefer a hard copy of the kit, please email triage.kit@health.gov.au, or write to: Emergency Triage Education Kit, The Department of Health and Ageing, Acute Care Division, MDP 63, GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, providing your postal details.