[rnsrgr8t]

When I worked for a very busy pediatric office, we always had one nurse that did telephone triage all day (we rotated so we did not get burned out). On a busy Monday during flu season, my record of calls was 150 in an 8 hour period but I was only able to do it on my own after having several years experience doing it. We also had a database where we kept the records of the calls. I type fast so I as able to talk with the families and type at the same time. We also had headsets we wore to make it more comfortable.

[Sunny Girl]

We do 4-5 calls per hour. Some involve paging MD's for telephone RX orders and calling them in to a pharmacy. We use McKesson's CECC software. Very easy, short assessement..get to the guideline and chart by exception.

[flspedi]

So I'll start by saying I work for a pediatric center-I'm in the after hours location and we triage for 4 practices. On a given weekend (16 hours of phone calls) we (meaning me and 1 other nurse that is there in the AM only both days) do approximately 600 calls. Not sure what that divides into, but most calls go like this:
Hi this is ........ with ........, what's going on with ........? Mom or dad says ......has sore throat and fever for 2 days. Okay can you come to the .......location at .......and see dr......? Some are a little more detailed if they don't qualify for an after hours appointment and we have to give them advice and get them to understand their little one will be fine until Monday morning.

[espritjolieRN]

Today I worked 9 hours, took 40 calls, and started/managed one IV. Too busy, but the types of calls (only a few were really complex) honestly allowed it to be doable. My preferred day is about 25 calls. The one time I had 50+ messages to take care of by myself I felt like patient care was very much being compromised.