Perceptions and attitudes of emergency department nurses toward artificial intelligence applications in triage: a qualitative study

Object This study aims to explore the cognition and attitude of emergency department nurses toward the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in triage, reveal the challenges faced in the application process, and provide suggestions for promoting the application of AI triage in China. Methods This study adopted a qualitative research design and employed the Colaizzi phenomenological method. Purposive sampling was used to select emergency department nurses from September 2025 to December 2025 for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Result A total of 18 research subjects were included in this study, 2 themes and 6 sub-themes were identified: (1) Nurses’ cognition of the application of AI triage, including reducing work pressure, having concerns, and the boundary uncertainty of human-AI collaboration; (2) Nurses’ demands for the application of AI in triage include data security and information accuracy, clinical adaptation and data intercommunication, as well as ethical guarantees. Conclusion Nurses have a relatively rational understanding of the application of AI in triage, which can bring positive impacts to the triage process, but they also face multiple challenges. The development and application of future AI triage systems should focus on the demands of patient safety, data security, and information accuracy, to enhance the efficiency of emergency triage and alleviate the pressure on nurses.