Triage services were once reserved for medical facilities. Rehab facilities, home care businesses, and mental health organizations have been using triage nurses for years. However, large medical facilities are now learning exactly how useful employing triage nurses really are. Wait times can be reduced, follow-ups are easier, and the entire experience is more convenient for the clients.
What Is Telephonic Triage Nursing?
Telephone Nurse Triage nurses, also known as TTNs, are nurses that conduct all their patient care over the phone or through video calls. They perform tasks that don’t require in-person visits.
Triage nurses can perform a wide range of services that in-home nurses usually do. They can help clients with their blood pressure testing, ensure that clients take their medication, and they can even determine if a patient needs immediate emergency care via the phone.
A good triage nurse has critical thinking skills, great communication skills, great decision-making skills, and medical background, and they have the knowledge needed to determine the urgency of issues.
TTN Application in Hospitals
Hospital call answering is just one of many services that TTN can perform. In fact, they can take these calls, schedule appointments, and learn exactly what the patient needs before they even step into the office. It saves the doctor’s time, and it makes the facility run much more smoothly.
Prior to the rise in popularity of triage nurses, secretaries would handle all the appointment making. Secretaries lack the medical background to determine the seriousness or treatment plan for patients. A triage nurse streamlines the entire process, allowing the doctor to have useful information before the patient even steps through the doors.
Triage nurses can even perform certain vital tests prior to the patient leaving their home for an extended stay at the medical facility. They can walk the patient through blood pressure and oxygen readers with equipment the patient has at home. This means the patient’s room, required equipment, and other accommodations will be completed before they even arrive.
As you can see, a triage nurse is much more than a medical answering service. Triage nursing turns hospital call answering into a useful part of the process at any medical facility. Clients are overwhelmingly happy with the results triage nursing brings.
Finding a Triage Nurse
Triage nurses are often found in non-traditional avenues. It’s true that just about any qualified nurse can transition to a triage nurse, but it can be difficult to find an experienced and professional triage nurse if you don’t know where to look.
Call 4 Health has an extensive history in the triage nursing industry. They have their own call centers and several different campuses, and they are HIPAA compliant. They recently won the ATSI Call Center Award of Distinction, recognizing them as a superior triage nurse call center.
Contact us at Call 4 Health today to learn exactly what they have to offer and find out if a medical answering service is a good match for your medical facility.