Nurse Triage Call Center Services: How It Works

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals have been flooded with patients, and in many cases, a trip to the hospital seemed unnecessary. As a result, hospitals devised a cutting-edge virtual triage tool to examine patients’ symptoms and provide guidance on what to do before patients left their homes.  

How Does A Nurse Triage Call Center Work?  

Patients who phone a virtual triage center are linked to a telemedicine triage professional through a virtual exam room. The virtual nurse triage evaluates the symptoms before deciding on the next step. This benefits both the patient and the treatment facility by expediting the flow of patients to their final destination and saving valuable time.   

Patients are referred to a physical or virtual treatment depending on their illness or ailment severity only after their symptoms have been assessed. Virtual triage saves money and time for both the patient and the caregiver by assigning the patient to the safest, most cost-effective treatment option throughout the routing process.  

For example, if a patient presents minor conditions, they may be examined virtually by advanced practitioners, specialists, or primary care physicians. If a patient complains of shortness of breath, they may be directed to the emergency room or clinic for physical assessment.  

Let’s Take A Detailed Look At How The Entire Procedure Works:  

1. Firstly, a person phones their doctor’s office or a dedicated hotline for help with triage. The call is passed to an operator, who takes down the caller’s information, including their name, age, and physician’s name. The information is subsequently relayed to a professional registered triage nurse. If the caller looks to be experiencing a critical symptom, the operator may be required to ask for further information, which will move the request up the call list queue. This assures that a triage nurse will assess the call quickly and efficiently.  
2. Secondly, the nurse obtains the caller’s details and contacts the patient. The nurse discusses the complaints and the patient’s medical history in more detail.  
3. Thirdly, after reviewing the information, the nurse chooses the appropriate strategy and uses a checklist to evaluate the caller’s symptoms. This leads the nurse to ask further questions and evaluate the patient’s appropriate level of care. The facts about the patient, the patient’s disposition, and the nurse’s triage routine are all recorded in a system during each call. The nurse also guarantees the patient’s safety by ensuring that the patient understands the instructions and measures to be taken for follow-up care.  
4. Finally, the nurse triage call centers send the information and disposition of the caller to the physician’s office. This can be accomplished by the use of fax, email, or internet access to notes.  

Benefits Of Nurse Triage Call Centers  

When a patient phones a doctor’s office or an emergency room, they’re likely in much pain. They may also be anxious or agitated. Patients will always receive the attention and care they need with a nurse triage service.  

• Nurse triage services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from any location and are delivered through call centers, where patients are guided to the proper medical facility based on their needs.  
• Nurse triage services can help a patient successfully assess, diagnose, and treat.  

• Successful nurse triage services rely on a large group of nurses who have been appropriately trained for each type of caregiver.  
• A virtual triage service expands the range of care options available to patients.  
• A phone call to a virtual nurse triage center at odd hours of the night gives instant assistance and care without the need to wait and potentially worsen the situation.  
• Virtual assistance also aids in the more efficient management of patient inflow.  
• Virtual nurse triage reduces the amount of time spent in waiting rooms.  

• It reduces unnecessary absences for students and eliminates the need for parents to take time off work.  
• By first analyzing symptoms with a virtual triage nurse, the patient will be directed to the appropriate doctor.  
• It saves costs for both patients and practitioners.  
• Gives peace of mind and strengthens relationships between the patient and provider  

Call 4 Health nurse triage services are among the best in South Carolina. By following standardized protocols like Schmitt-Thompson telephone triage protocols, our nurses provide the finest, compassionate, courteous one-on-one telephone assessment to help patients choose the right level of care, whether it’s for setting up an appointment or instructions to visit the emergency room or at-home care, resulting in peace of mind for both the patients and practitioners. 

For more details about nurse triage services contact Call 4 Health or call (855) 508-3145 today.