Hey folks...it's me...back again..still dreaming of a telephone triage job...

LoveTeleNursing · Jan 19, 2004

Below is a copy of a post I did elsewhere in this forum for a person who posed a similar question about seeking a telephone triage job. She was interested in what the job required, how it was performed and so on. I thought what I submitted there might be helpful. I agree with you that finding telephone triage jobs in certain areas is difficult. There aren't that many options in some parts of the US, or it is simply not marketed well enough to utilize.

Another way that you might consider getting involved to a degree that might put you in position for a telephone job in the future, would be to join a large managed care group or HMO in your area, within ambulatory care (usually doctors' office work and less physically draining), that also has a telephone triage call center. This is assuming the call center isn't hiring at that time. In the clinic setting, you will often be triaging clients both in person and over the telephone, so it would be a great jumping board. Generally, a clinic nurse does a lot of triage, and some other procedures such as injections of narcotics, IV starts, assisting the doctor with setting up or doing minor procedures such as laceration repair or skin biopsies. Sometimes, depending on the type of clinic and focus of the members (adult versus child for example), you could be asked to do some case management. It would also keep your skills up and give you another "area" of nursing that shows on your resume. Also, very handy if a job in the call center does come up.

OK, here's my other post. Good Luck with the hunt.

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You will need solid experience in nursing--med/surg experience is very useful.

You will need a strong sense of self-worth and confidence in your skills and ambition to do a job independently.

Most telephone triage experts will advise a nurse to have at least 2-3 years in acute care (critical care or emergency nursing or acute med/surg), or 5-7 years in other nursing avenues. This provides the nurse with a solid base for doing telephone advice, which requires a vast knowledge base, and competency to perform independently. However, these are recommendations, and vary from place to place.

You will need a pleasant phone voice, calm demeanor and have excellent verbal communication. You may need to document calls on a computer, so experience in keyboarding is helpful, with ability to type at least 25 words per minute preferred.

One can find a telephone triage (or telephone advice) job in clinics, ambulatory/immediate care facilities, home health & hospice facilities or companies, managed care/HMO facilities, and some hospital or private sector companies.

Expect to either be in an environment where you take calls for a specific population, such as oncology, or taking calls for a wide spectrum, including adult/pediatrics/ob or gyn.

You can look for positions by looking up telephone triage online search, or looking for ambulatory care units/clinics/hospitals in your area, and looking up information or web sites for local HMO/Managed care facilities in your area.

If you do not find a position by just browsing, go ahead and send a resume with a cover letter presenting your expertise and experience, and letting the company know that you are interested pursuing a position in patient education or telephone triage services.

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Other possible positions you might particularly enjoy would be case management, diabetes education (if this a strong point in your experience) or home health/home infusion. Long term care, doing director of nursing or resident care management may be another area. If you know nothing about this area, they are often willing to train you. Generally these positions require less physical activity in nursing homes or rehab centers, because the bulk of the bedside care is done by LPN and CNA staff. It does however, require a lot of paperwork, and the regulatory guidelines are very stiff. Reading about Long Term Care using this bulletin board, under that forum may help you decide if this would be something you'd be interested in. They often have impressive bonuses and good benefits because this is another area that is experiencing the nursing shortage crunch.

I hope this helps you get started. Best wishes in pursuing a positive career change.

Below are several web sites about or related to telephone triage.

It should jump start your research:

Telephone Triage Web sites:

http://www.rnceus.com/triage/triageframe.html

http://community.nursingspectrum.co...le.cfm?AID=6873

http://www.conway.lsuhsc.edu/librar...ing/telemed.htm

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hw/telemed/orgs.html

http://www.ana.org/readroom/tele2.htm

http://www.rn.ca.gov/policies/pdf/npr-b-35.pdf

http://www.carolstock.com/

http://seminars.pesihealthcare.com/seminfo/rutenberg/