Creating a built-to-order solution provides health professionals with the data needed to execute a care plan properly. Here, we discuss how providers can use a customized approach to telephone nurse triage to improve patient engagement and health outcomes. We focus on custom orders, that is, tailored instructions based on physician or practice preferences for triage nurses to follow after the appropriate care for the patient has been determined.
Getting Started
There are two points of contacts between patients and nurses. Some calls happen during the day time when doctor offices are open. These calls can be managed by the office’s internal day-time nurses aided with electronic triage protocols to guide them and ensure the appropriate level of care. Other calls happen after-hours when doctor offices are closed. In this case, the doctors need to decide if they want to hire their own nurses to manage patient calls and license night-time protocols software or outside to a nurse triage service. Most practices opt of the outsourced option to maintain costs and customization of the outsource service is an essential component to ensure continuity of care.
Day Time Solution – Office Protocols
Building your own patient application can be time-consuming and costly. To create new custom orders and protocols would require significant investments of time and energy by leaders and frontline staff, which is why practices today are relying on companies like TriageLogic to provide an all-inclusive solution.
Leveraging TriageLogic
The MyTriageChecklist® is a telephone nurse triage software to triage and document patient phone calls when the doctor offices are open. The software provides a foundation of clinical support features including Schmitt-Thompson protocols, integration with existing EMR systems, and a clinical nurse manager to train all users.
TriageLogic can provide a robust platform for your organization’s dynamic patient resources within days. The MyTriageChecklist®, allows nurses to evaluate patients using gold standard protocols, and then follow with tailored instructions based on physician or practice preferences. Optional features including data analytics reports and the use of large volumes of data help build patient categories at a relatively low cost and also allows doctors and practices to understand their patient groups and frequent questions better.
After Hour Solution – Nurse Triage on Call with Custom Orders
Patients get sick any time, day or night, weekends and holidays. Doctors often engage an outsource nurse triage service to help manage these calls. Triage nurses provide reassurance for patients, continuity of care, and allow doctors to follow up with patients the next day. The use of custom orders is also vital in an outsourced nurse triage service.
When a nurse triage service allows for custom orders, they can follow tailored instructions based on physician or practice preferences, once the nurse has determined the appropriate level of care for the patient. For example, some doctors prefer to have their patients use specific brands of medications when necessary. Other examples include a particular urgent care center or ER to go to if patients need immediate treatment. The option allows the nurse to help patients as an extension of the doctor without having to call the doctor after every call.
Organizations that provide health services are increasingly in need of systems and approaches that will enable them to be more responsive to the needs of their patients.
Customized care is designed around a deep understanding of what happens at the ground level along the patient pathway and incorporates patient engagement by focusing on such things as shared decision-making, a definition of appointments, and self-management.
"We can’t change protocols due to liability, but we do allow practices to add custom orders. This can be anything from giving ibuprofen over Tylenol or send your patients to a certain ER/urgent care.”
The goal of value-based care is to provide better care for patients, create a healthier population, and reduce healthcare costs. TriageLogic can provide your practice with custom orders so that no matter who answers the phone your patients receive the best quality telephone triage service.
MyTriageChecklist® includes:
- Nurse triage protocols from Schmitt-Thompson
- Fast, efficient point and click interface
- Medication dosage charts – click to add to triage documentation
- Email/text handouts and encounter specific care advice to callers
- Smart copy and paste to EMR
- Preconfigured to work seamlessly inside Salesforce
Having access to custom orders improves communication while at the same time, providing valuable savings on health care dollars.
Are you interested in learning more about day time protocols or a nurse triage service to manage patient calls for your office? Contact us today.
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