CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PRIORITY NURSING DIAGNOSES AMONG PATIENTS IN AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Abstract

Emergency departments manage patients with diverse levels of acuity and rapidly changing physiological conditions, requiring systematic nursing assessment and prioritization. This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics, triage levels, and priority nursing diagnoses of patients treated in an emergency department. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted using a de-identified hospital dataset containing 57 patient records from April 2026. Variables included demographic characteristics, triage level, neurological and respiratory assessment, vital signs, hydration indicators, selected nursing interventions, length of stay, disposition, and priority nursing diagnoses. Data were cleaned for case inconsistencies and obvious spelling variations, then analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, medians, and ranges. Most patients were aged >41 years (54.4%), female (56.1%), and classified as triage P2 (77.2%). Patent airway was documented in 89.5% of patients, abnormal breath sounds in 21.1%, hypovolemia indicators in 19.3%, dry mucosa in 43.9%, and hyperthermia in 36.8%. Mean respiratory rate was 23.16±4.07 breaths/min, oxygen saturation 95.21±4.89%, pulse 100.02±18.43 beats/min, and emergency department length of stay 4.91±1.63 hours. The most frequent priority nursing diagnoses were hypovolemia (21.1%), acute pain (19.3%), ineffective airway clearance (12.3%), and ineffective breathing pattern (12.3%). The findings demonstrate heterogeneous acute care needs with prominent fluid, pain, and respiratory problems, supporting the importance of structured assessment and standardized nursing diagnosis in emergency care.