Report of an audit of nurse triage in an accident and emergency department.

The nurse triage process in an accident and emergency (A&E) department was audited as part of the nursing quality assurance programme. It was found that in most cases documentation was adequate and guidelines had been adhered to. Triage decisions were accurate in most cases using the discharge diagnosis as a bench-mark. Waiting time improvements were also seen. Triage audit was a useful tool in the continuous quality improvement effort.