Nurse triage has the potential to save patient lives. Patients often don’t know what symptoms may be signs of serious medical problems. Using a set of standardized protocols, telephone triage nurses assess patient symptoms and determine which ones are most serious and may need immediate medical attention.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to underscore the need for telephone medicine, medical call centers can play a crucial role in improving the patient experience and quality of care while containing costs.
MyTriageChecklist helps nurses determine the most appropriate level of care when patients call with symptoms. It is a web-based, safe, and efficient solution for organizations looking to increase their quality of patient care and save on healthcare costs.
Chronic care management (CCM) involves facilitating care in-between physician office visits for patients with multiple chronic conditions. Care coordination between office visits can help individuals follow their care plan, adhere to their medication regimen, and keep doctor appointments. It can also help identify and pre-empt issues with the potential to turn into health tragedies.
Hospitals, specialty clinics, and other healthcare organizations are expanding telemedicine to provide quality services and generate revenue. With this growth and success in telemedicine, there are many options available for every organization.
Patient triage via phone can be challenging – nurses have limited information and no visual clues to guide their decision making. Instead, they rely on years of education, hands-on-training, and instinct.
The TriageLogic Learning Center provides free educational material for telephone nurses and medical professionals. The courses provide a thorough understanding of nurse triage, triage protocols, and patient care.
Putting remote triage nurses in conjunction with telehealth doctor’s visits can provide a seamless remote experience for patients. Triage nurses can collect the pertinent information, educate the patient for the telehealth visit, and set up a telehealth visit on behalf of the doctor.
Doctors Schmitt and Thompson have created a standardized set of questions and dispositions based on patient symptoms to ensure that nurses give the same, high-quality standard of care every time a patient calls.
As the coronavirus pandemic progresses, nurse triage is playing a critical role in helping healthcare organizations, hospitals and practices manage their overwhelmed systems. As the weeks passed since the original national emergency announcement, our nurse triage center has observed some important trends on what callers are experiencing.
