ABSTRACT
Objective:
to assess the agreement among nurses in the application of an institutional assessment protocol with risk classification in a hospital emergency unit.
Method:
quantitative and retrospective study of cross-sectional approach, carried out at the adult emergency unit of a general hospital in the State of Santa Catarina, based on medical records. The data collection took place between October and December of 2013. The sample consisted of 380 medical records, selected by simple randomization. The degree of agreement was determined by the Kappa coefficient.
Results:
the general agreement among nurses in the application of the institutional protocol was substantial (Kappa=0.786) representing 331 (87.2%) files. Among the declassification levels, there was almost a perfect agreement for all of them (Kappa=1 for the red level, Kappa=0.836 for the orange level, Kappa=0.884 for the yellow level, Kappa=0.865 for the green level and Kappa=1 for the blue level).
Conclusion:
the general agreement in the application of the institutional protocol was substantial, showing an almost perfect agreement at all levels of classification. There was an overestimation and underestimation of the risk classification in relation to the protocol. It is suggested that the nurses who perform the risk classification receive training from the institution regarding the applicability of the protocol, in order to minimize the overestimation and underestimation of the risk classification. This study contributes to assess the application of a new implanted protocol, with subsidies for a better agreement in its implementation by nurses.
DESCRIPTORS:
User embracement; Evaluation studies; Emergency nursing; Health services research; Nursing