Table 2 Study participants

STS analysis of the AS IS situation

Interviews will be carried out with a sample of nurses and clinicians and administrative staff. The exact sample size will be determined by the data gathered – once data saturation has been reached the interviews will stop. Purposive sampling will be employed for the interviews. It is expected to interview at least 20 people.

PAR group

The research team members and key ED stakeholders including triage nurses, ED staff nurses, clinical nurse managers, non-consultant hospital doctors, consultants in emergency medicine, administration, management and patient representation. It is expected the PAR group will consist of 15–20 people.

PDSA cycles

As the PDSA cycles grow so too will the number of participants. The initial cycle will start small as per the PDSA approach and include 2 ED triage nurses.

Delphi study to decide on evaluation measures

The following people will be invited to join the Delphi panel: the research team and the research steering group committee; a selection of Consultants, REGs, ANPs from the ED who have not been involved in the research; all members of the national EMP and ENIG; the EM lead consultant and nursing leads in all the Model 4 EDs in the Ireland (comparable hospitals).