The Journal of cardiovascular nursing
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Although nurses frequently determine patient priority and urgency status for emergency evaluation and treatment of symptoms suggestive of myocardial infarction (MI), surprisingly few studies have specifically examined the cardiac triage decisions of emergency department (ED) nurses. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explicate the decision-making processes of ED nurses who triage men and women for MI. ⋯ Nurses are knowledgeable of age and sex differences in MI presentation. However, some nurses hold cultural biases and stereotypes that may interfere with the timely delivery of emergency cardiac healthcare. Findings from this study will be used to develop a quantifiable measure of ED nurses' cardiac triage decision-making processes.