COVID-19 Signals Change in the Medical Community
The Jacksonville Business Journal has featured Dr. Charu Raheja in light of TriageLogic’s participation in setting up a telephone triage system for nurses at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville. The article was featured April 3, 2020 as an exclusive article.
In partnership with Telescope Health, a telemedicine start-up, TriageLogic has helped a local hospital prepare for the flood of patients that the COVID-19 pandemic has created. Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville had no infrastructure for their nurses to work from home; there was no system to triage COVID patients, no telephone lines ready to handle an overwhelming amount of calls, and no way to organize priority patients. With the help of Telescope Health, Baptist Health, and TriageLogic, the City of Jacksonville now has a virtual platform to screen patients before they show up to a new drive-through testing site at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, located at 1000 Water Street in downtown Jacksonville.
TriageLogic was able to set up nurses in their own homes where they could practice social distancing but still be on the frontlines of the pandemic and help those in the community. In less than two weeks the MyTriageChecklist software was implemented, Baptist nurses were trained and ready to take calls in a call center system, and the Schmitt-Thompson protocols were all set up. The system is now in-use and working effectively.
Ellen Schneider, a reporter for the Jacksonville Business Journal, took the time to highlight how companies like TriageLogic and Telescope Health can lend a helping hand to communities when they need it the most. Telephone triage nurses are vital in health emergencies like the one we are seeing today. They save medical institutions time, money, and crucial resources.
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TriageLogic’s CEO Dr. Charu Raheja told Schneider that the COVID-19 pandemic will change the landscape of the medical field. Virtual and telephone medicine was always an option, but many medical organizations had not felt any urgency to implement it. Now that the novel coronavirus has forced the hand of many hospitals and doctor’s offices, people are starting to see just how effective and efficient it is when used appropriately.
Dr. Raheja spoke about the nature of the pandemic, and how it can create an uneasiness in communities. This is, in-part, responsible for the high amount of calls that hospitals like Baptist are seeing.
“There’s just a lot of anxiety on the part of the patients,” Dr. Raheja said in the article. She goes on to speak about how anxious patients can inundate an ER or call 911 unnecessarily. A nurse telephone triage system such as TriageLogic’s nurse triage on call gives patients an alternative avenue other than a hurried trip to the ER. It gives patients the power to speak to a medical professional or ask a nurse questions from the comfort of their own homes. They can simply get online or on the phone and get the reassurance or additional medical care that they need. This keeps the patient from having to take on the extra expenses from a hospital visit, and allows hospitals to focus on patients that truly need to be there.
The system that TriageLogic and Telescope Health put together for Baptist Medical Center helped alleviate the extra strain that COVID-19 created on the hospital. The great thing is, this system is easy to re-create at any hospital or practice. Telephone triage systems allow greater flexibility for any practice and can help medical organizations be ready for any public health event – even the yearly flu season.
The future of medicine lies with solutions that allow greater access to the public and that fully embraces the solutions that technology allows.
Could your medical institution or practice benefit from a telephone nurse triage system? Please contact us for a free consultation on the best solution for your healthcare organization’s needs.
