Conners A M
Accid Emerg Nurs. 1994 Jan;2(1):7-20. doi: 10.1016/0965-2302(94)90124-4.
How sick are the patients? How many nurses are needed to care for them? These have been described as the perennial nursing questions. This paper explains that a patient classification system, as used in the nursing context, is an attempt to answer these question: to quantify and reduce to empirical data that which is abstract and complex. Nowhere are the 'perennial questions' more difficult to answer than in an Emergency department, where patient flow and patient acuity change so rapidly. This paper illustrates that it is, however, possible to apply a patient classification system (PCS) in an Emergency department. The author describes the steps involved in the implementation of such a system-including literature review, choice of system, validation, modification, reliability testing, staff education; and discusses calculation of time taken to care for each category of patient. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research.
患者病情有多严重？需要多少护士来照顾他们？这些一直被描述为长期存在的护理问题。本文解释说，护理领域中使用的患者分类系统试图回答这些问题：将抽象和复杂的事物量化并转化为实证数据。在急诊科，这些“长期问题”比其他任何地方都更难回答，因为那里的患者流量和病情严重程度变化非常迅速。然而，本文表明在急诊科应用患者分类系统（PCS）是可行的。作者描述了实施这样一个系统所涉及的步骤，包括文献综述、系统选择、验证、修改、可靠性测试、员工教育；并讨论了照顾每类患者所需时间的计算。本文最后对未来研究提出了一些建议。
