Experiences of civilian nurses in triage during the Iran-Iraq War: An oral history

Abstract

PURPOSE: Nurses played a critical role in performing triage during the Iran-Iraq War. However, their experiences in triage have not been discussed. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the triage experiences of civilian nurses during the Iran-Iraq War. METHODS: Oral history method and in-depth interviews were used to collect data to gain the nurses' experiences in triage. RESULTS: Four themes were extracted from the data, which were the development of triage, challenging environment to perform triage, development of mobile triage teams, and challenges of triage chemical victims for nurses. CONCLUSION: Triage is an important skill for nurses to manage critical situations such as disasters and wars. Nurses have to be competent in performing triage. Involvement in critical situations helps the nurses learn and gain more experience on how to manage unexpected events.