Identification and Research of Impacts of Social Categorization Process in Nurse Triage (SOCIAL SORTING)
Identification and Research of Impacts of Social Categorization Process in Nurse Triage (SOCIAL SORTING)
Social Sorting is a: non interventional, observational, qualitative and multicenter research.
 It investigates three French emergency units in three French centers (UH of Angers, H of Le
 Mans, H of Laval).

 It is a research based on nursing sciences and social-psychology and it proposes to study the
 process of social categorization that intervenes during triage nursing.

 The process of social categorization has developped since the beginning of XX century
 (LIPPMANN, in 1922, in United States, he gave the first definition of stereotype// DURKHEIM,
 in France described step by step the individuals and the collectives representations.

 During XX century the social psychology developed a lot of studs about group dynamics (social
 categorization, influence phenomenon, conspiracy theories,...) within several domains :
 industry, politics, public services as police, social units,... and also in healthcare (but
 always about a social categorisation in particular and often with a limited study of
 impacts).

 Social Sorting includes all social categorization as possible and search to do a scientific
 evaluation of their impact.
Emergencies units are a special way to access at cares. These units must continually adapt
 their practice because it is impossible to predict patient's flow, number of hospital's
 available beds and kinds of emergencies (medical, chirurgical, psychiatric, social).
 Organization and quality of cares are based on a balance between competences and human
 attributes.

 The first step in medical care takes place thanks to the nurse triage. They must summarize a
 lot of information about patients ( such as medical letters, firemen's transmission,...) and
 make a quick clinical exam. This action permits to determine an emergency degree and
 prioritize it. This activity is based on clinical categorization and clinical tools (scales
 of triage).

 The clinical categorization is a professional competence (nurses learn what categorization is
 at school and develop it at hospital).In this research social categorization will be
 confronted with another type of categorization : the social categorization.

 The latter it is very different categorization, in fact, it is shared by anybody
 (nonprofessionals of healthcare and professionals). The social categorization can be
 described like the phenomenon that permits to simplify the reading of the world. That also
 permits for anybody to define itself and define the one or more group membership. That
 process is continually in movement (social prejudices changes according to History, depending
 on the place of the world htat person lives,...).

 The social categorization process has a real impact on action, thinking and relation with the
 world and the others persons.

 The social categorization reveals its process in prejudice (sensitive dimension),
 stereotypes(cognitive dimension, stereotypes are organized around a central trait and others
 peripherals traits) and conducts to discrimination (behavior dimension) about origins,
 diseases, age,....Social categorization provides of naive theorization about social objects.
 For instance, a man who stereotypes woman with blond hair thinking "she is stupid" when he
 sees her in the street ( that it is a prejudice, a central trait) and this feeling conducts
 him to think "she is superficial, she does not work, she watches reality TV show
 everyday,..."(that it is a stereotype with peripherals traits). If this same man does not
 accept to help this woman if she needs him, it can considered like discrimination.

 A lot of studies in public administrations have shown the important influence of social
 categorization on power which exists in any relations and the non-personalization as final
 response. In healthcare domain for instance, the research of WILLIAMS have shown existence of
 "bads patients".

 Our first hypothesis is that process of social categorization exists and it has several
 faces(potentially negative). We also make the hypothesis that they have impacts on several
 aspects of medical care like : waiting time, management of pain,....We finally do the
 hypothesis that exist links between : the presence of process of social categorization in
 triage nursing and : individual traits (race, sex, age,...), specificities of any contexts.

 Social Sorting wishes to identify with scientific measure the presence of social
 categorization process in triage nursing and it is unprecedented.

 Then it is also to describe the impacts of this process on several parts of the medical care.

 It could be interesting to improve nursing staff. It could be also interesting to patients
 because it is the equality of health offer which is asked in Social Sorting. In France, in
 2015, 10 billions of patients came in emergency units. The study of feasibility wich was done
 before Social Sorting has shown that 20 percent of nurses sorting include social
 categorization nurse.

 The results of this research could interest professional of healthcare domain and
 socio-psychologist.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  all nurses who accept micro and all patients over the age of majority

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  all nurses who do not accept micro and all minor patients