Triage is a Tiger: Caregiver and Patient Satisfaction

Course Purpose, Description,  and Objectives

Course Purpose and Description

There is a gap between professional service quality and perception of emergency caregivers regarding their patients.. Studies have shown the link between caregiver satisfaction, job stress, work environment and delivery of care in an empathetic and highly professional, manner. Most patient satisfaction education models, focus on techniques and scripting to attempt to ensure nurses behave in a “nice” manner. Analysis shows results are often temporary and that caregivers return to previous modes of behavior over time. Culture change in an organization is achieved through a root cause examination of caregiver thought processes, and dysfunctional or even toxic work environment is eliminated, allowing caregivers to function in a highly empathetic as well as clinically expert arena. This course enables learners to self introspect and consider their personal obstacles to delivering empathetic and clinically expert emergency care, as well as creating a healthy work environment.


1. Examine sources of expectations that are stressful to the practice of triage as they relate to inconsistency and obstacles in meeting those expectations.

2. Detect the commonality interwoven throughout the obstacles to meeting personal, professional, and patient expectations.

3. Describe the relationship between cynicism and the standard of care provided to patients.

4. Compare and contrast the general demographics of patients.

5. Determine through reflection personal trigger groups.

6. Detect styles of communication that negatively impact patient care.

7. Devise a strategy to mitigate an interaction error.

8. Detect behaviors consistent with empathy burnout in self or colleagues

9. Describe interventions that mitigate or eradicate empathy burnout.