Introduction: Normally, the patient’s first contact with the healthcare system involves the triage personnel. In order to correctly assess the patient's health status and to determine the triage category, medical expertise is needed, but it is also necessary to know and master the skills of effective communication with all involved and to establish a functional communication process. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to study the communication skills of triage personnel in the triage units of emergency centres in terms of competence and to establish their views on the importance of communication skills in working with patients. Methods: We used the descriptive and causative, non-experimental method of empirical research. We used a survey questionnaire for the data collection technique; the survey was sent to staff in triage clinics in electronic form through heads of emergency departments in Slovenia. For analysis, we used the Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Analysis of the resulting data revealed higher self-assessment of communication skills in those triage personnel (n = 143) who had completed the course of the Manchester Triage System, which is over 52 %. The results show that those respondents with a more work experience feel more confident in communication; however, they are simultaneously more reserved. We also note better assessment of non-verbal communication among female representatives, who comprise as much as 74 % of the sample. Moreover, there are differences in favour of a group of respondents who are satisfied with their formal education in terms of communication skills; to a lesser extent, there are differences between the attained level of education in favour of those with more education. The average level achieved is currently higher professional education. We established that half the triage personnel had not acquired the appropriate communication skills during formal education, although more than 60 % of them are additionally updating their skills. The expected majority is not satisfied with their working conditions, especially in terms of lack of time to assess a large number of patients. Discussion and Conclusion: Communication skills in triage units represent a link between all the skills that triage personnel need to master in order to determine the triage category quickly and correctly. This decision is often a matter of life and death. The current situation in emergency centres is not yet fully satisfactory; however, it is encouraging that more than half the staff have received additional training and are aware of the importance of quality communication with the patient.
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