The Emergency Nurses Association announced a partnership with Mednition to put the power of clinical data science and machine-learning behind the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage system used by nearly every emergency nurse in the U.S. ENA acquired ESI in October. With the support of ENA, Mednition will provide research expertise and data analysis tools that use real-time information to update and improve ESI, allowing ENA to partner with nurses to enhance their triage skills and decision-making abilities.
ENA’s collaboration with Mednition is part of the association’s plan to update, enhance and expand the use of ESI. As it has done with previous education tools, ENA also plans to form a workgroup comprised of emergency nurse experts who will be focused on ESI’s future development.
“Through the acquisition of ESI and our partnership with Mednition, ENA is uniquely positioned to drive the advancement of triage in the emergency department and ultimately improve patient care,” said ENA President Patti Kunz Howard, PhD, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN, NE-BC, FAEN, FAAN. “This will undoubtedly help emergency nurses put the patients they see on the best course of treatment to attain better outcomes.”
The triage vision will on five key areas:
· Assessment, refinement and deployment of an updated ESI model
· Initial triage training and education updates
· Research and learning for the advancement of the emergency nursing profession
· Standardization of nursing data to advance sharing of that data
· Ensuring modern triage best practices and skill development
Mednition’s real-time machine learning-based clinical decision support technology is currently in use at Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM) in Los Angeles. AHWM nurses assess an average of 160 patients per day and have used the Mednition KATE system to assist in acuity assessment since the start of 2019.
“Machine Learning has become an integral part of our triage process, providing our team with a real-time second set of eyes,” said Ruth Keniston, MSN, RN, CEN, an emergency department supervisor at Adventist Health White Memorial. “Our nurses are advancing the level of triage care as Mednition has helped us identify our biggest opportunities for triage improvement. This lets us focus our staff education to minimize common triage missteps.”
“Starting with a thorough review and update of ESI, this partnership will accelerate learning and the advancement of the emergency nursing practice, ensuring every emergency nurse has the best tools to practice safely and can add their expertise into advanced machine learning solutions,” said Mednition CEO and co-founder Steven Reilly. “We’re proud to be an integral player in advancing such a critical industry standard.”
