Regardless of who answers the phones when your patients call, it matters how well those interactions are documented — not just for getting patients to the right care, but also for protecting your practice against potential liability. This is why nurse triage software is essential, especially if it can meet HIPAA compliance and integrate directly with your existing software. Let’s explore how nurse triage benefits patient safety, practice liability, and call center operations.
The Role of Nurse Triage in Patient Safety
Nurse triage typically involves registered nurses reviewing patient call requests to determine if they appear to be nonurgent, urgent, or emergent, before calling those patients back within established timeframes. During these interactions, nurses use industry-recognized triage protocols so that patient symptoms are evaluated in a standardized manner to determine the worst-case scenario that each patient could be experiencing.
Why?
For starters, there are plenty of patients who worry that they’re sicker than they really are. Understanding their symptoms can alleviate their concerns and keep them out of the ER.
Other patients have the opposite problem, and will avoid emergency care when they need it.
Lastly, many hospital systems struggle with data interoperability. When internal software can’t communicate, patient records tend to be incomplete, and that disrupts care.
Triage software is necessary because it:
- Helps nurses guide patients to the appropriate care.
- Helps patients avoid unnecessary ER visits and expenses.
- Shares full documentation of patient needs directly with their providers.
How Triage Software Alleviates Liability
1. Standardized Symptom Evaluation
Having triage software that includes protocols gives nurses a system that every team member can replicate so that each patient is evaluated equally — the only difference being the severity of their respective symptoms, and the types of providers that can ultimately treat them.
The ability to share these phone interactions directly with providers will lead to faster, more-informed decisions for care, which protects those providers and the triage nurses who assisted them in the event of a negative health outcome.
2. Fewer Unnecessary ER Visits
While we already touched on how triage software can help patients avoid the ER when they don’t need that service, it’s also important to note how this frees up ER resources for those patients who do. When ER overcrowding is reduced, patients who require immediate care can receive it sooner.
Those who may be able to treat their symptoms with urgent care, or with a regular doctor’s appointment, or even at home, can be advised to do so.
3. Improved Patient Satisfaction
Many patients have experienced the customer service situation where they’ve had to repeat themselves to their providers after they’ve already done so to a nonclinical operator or a nurse — which can be both frustrating and cause them to forget certain details.
Having the comfort and reassurance that their initial questions and concerns are already fully documented and shared directly with providers will make patients more likely to trust in the effectiveness of the practice at large.
Operational Benefits for Call Centers
In addition to supporting patient safety and minimizing liability, triage software offers measurable benefits to the call centers that use it.
- Reduced call escalations: Triage nurses can resolve most clinical concerns directly, decreasing the need for physician callbacks.
- Improved workflows: By handling the clinical portion of calls, triage nurses free up administrative staff to focus on scheduling, billing, and other non-medical tasks.
These efficiencies make nurse triage software a valuable asset to any healthcare call center looking to scale its operations without sacrificing patient engagement.
Learn About TriageLogic’s MyTriageChecklist®
Improving patient access to care has been a long-standing goal for our company, and nurse triage software has been at the core of that work since its founding. Our flagship solution, myTriageChecklist, has helped countless nurses engage with patient callers, evaluate their symptoms, and guide them to the appropriate care.
It can share documentation directly with in-house EHRs, and offers a convenient means for managers to oversee protocol use, accuracy, and quality assurance.
It can even provide advanced analytics so that your practice can predict factors like future call volume, thereby allowing your call center to staff more appropriately.
Need additional triage support? Our clinical call center is ready to help! Whether you need full-service coverage or supplemental support during high-volume periods, our team of registered nurses can offer consistent, high-quality care as an extension of your practice.
Want to See a Demo?
Nurse triage improves patient engagement and safeguards your practice against negative outcomes. As a call center manager, we want you to have access to nurse triage software that is cost-effective and clinically impactful.
Want to see what our solution can do for your team? Click here to request a free consultation!
About TriageLogic
TriageLogic is a URAC-accredited, physician-led provider of top-quality nurse telehealth technology, remote patient monitoring, and medical call center solutions. Founded in 2006, the TriageLogic Group now serves more than 22,000 physicians and covers over 42 million lives nationwide.
