The Department of Health and Aged Care is working with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) to review and revise ETEK. This project commenced in June 2022 and is expected to take approximately 12 months. Further information on the project can be found on the ETEK Review page on the Commission’s website. A new version of ETEK will be uploaded onto the Department’s website as soon as it is finalised.

ETEK is a teaching resource that aims to provide a consistent approach to the educational preparation of Australian emergency clinicians for the triage role. In particular the ETEK has been designed to promote the correct use of the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS).

The ETEK is the product of collaboration between the then Australian Department of Health and Ageing and a number of key stakeholders including:

• The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM);
• The College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA);
• The Australian College of Emergency Nursing (ACEN); and
• The Council of Remote Area Nurses Australia (CRANA).

Representatives of these groups formed the National Triage Working Party (NTWP) and were responsible for assisting the then Department of Health and Ageing with the development and implementation of the ETEK. This revision was published in 2009.

The information in these kits will remain relevant until the Australian Triage Scale is revised.

The program comprises of 12 individual learning units which are listed below.

1. Introduction
2. The Australasian Triage Scale
3. Communication issues at triage
4. Triage basics
5. Mental health triage
6. Rural and remote triage
7. Pain assessment at triage
8. Paediatric triage
9. Obstetric triage
10. Medico legal issues at triage
11. Consolidation
12. Self test

Each chapter provides a condensed summary of key issues related to the topic, lesson plans, and individual learning activities. Resources such as web-based materials and evidence-based reviews are also included in the kit.

The ETEK is divided into 12 modules that can be taught in one hour blocks. In addition to self directed learning activities we anticipate approximately 12-16 hours of time will be spent by educators delivering these units. Workplaces will differ in the way their in-service/staff development programs operate.

The ETEK includes consolidation and self test chapters that can be used by individuals to perform a self assessment when no clinical educator is available.

Please note: The following files have a large file download warning.

ETEK Workbook

Emergency Triage Education Kit - Workbook (PDF 2652 KB)
Emergency Triage Education Kit - Workbook (Word 2417 KB)

ETEK Resource Book

Emergency Triage Education Kit - Resource Book (PDF 1553 KB)
Emergency Triage Education Kit - Resource Book (Word 1668 KB)

ETEK Quick Reference Guide

Emergency Triage Education Kit - Triage Quick Reference Guide (PDF 2309 KB)
View the Emergency Triage Education Kit - Triage Quick Reference Guide as a web page.

The Department of Health no longer produces hard copy kits.