How a Nurse Triage Answering Service Works
When a medical office or emergency department receives an urgent call from a patient, family member, or care provider, there are several key factors that will determine the outcome in terms of health and in terms of creating a favorable impression. Chances are the caller will be somewhat panicked or in a state of heightened stress, and the ability to restore calm while getting accurate information and providing appropriate advice is essential to a successful triage call. These abilities require someone not only with medical training but also with outstanding interpersonal skills, and that’s where a triage answering service can come in handy.
Nurse Triage Answering Services Provide More Effective and Affordable Solutions
As every medical professional knows, many urgent calls can actually be handled by properly empowered and informed self-care, while others are best served by making an appointment for medical care and still others require immediate attention from a doctor or nurse. Determining the correct course of action for each call is the essence of over-the-phone triage, along with providing the self-care information needed on calls with the least urgency. Effective triage frees up medical resources—including the time that nurses and doctors have to spend with patients—so they can be used where they are most needed, and over-the-phone triage has become increasingly important.
A nurse triage answering service provides one of the most secure, effective, and affordable solutions for both small and large medical offices and institutions. First, all staff at a nurse triage call center are fully certified RNs, some with advanced training and degrees, with additional training in handling patients or their family members/caretakers over the phone. The ability to ask the right questions and interpret responses correctly when talking with non-experts and without the ability to conduct a physical examination is a highly specialized skill, and our triage nurses are experts.
Second, because our nurse triage answering service works with multiple medical offices, including hospitals, we are able to make cost-effective use of economies of scale. We can provide a full team of available nurses to ensure that all calls are answered quickly, with far less charged to our clients than the cost of adequate in-house triage nurses. Calls to your practice or emergency department are routed to our triage nurses, where they assess each call and provide self-care assistance, schedule an appointment based on your availability and the urgency of the complaint, and/or contact emergency service or notify the patient/caretaker to seek immediate in-person attention.
Call Center Nurse Triage Services Save Lives
When patients start receiving the care they need only a minute into their first phone call, the outcomes improve dramatically. It is no exaggeration to say that lives have been saved due to effective over-the-phone triage. Give your patients the best care you can, and give your business a boost at the same time. Partner with a nurse triage answering service today.
This is so true when deciding to hire out a medical answering services because they need to be well train. You will most likely receive calls with people under stress or panicking. I know I work in this industry and I always deal with people in the middle of anxiety attack. Thanks for posting this comment because it really has helped me with some new ideas.