How do YOU triage? Tell me how this works.

[AnonnymooseRN]

I am thinking about applying for a telephone triage job and would like to hear from nurses already in the field. How does it work? Do calls come to you directly? What if it's a work from home job? I know there are specific guidelines for symptoms and diseases. Are these in a computer program? Do you type in the caller's " chief complaint" and get prompted through a call or do you use a protocol book? I have heard that some companies have a program on the computer that will show a question and depending on the patient's answer, you will get another question based on what they've told you. Is that the norm for phone triage?

How long is training and what does it consist of (listening in? fake calls? a class that teaches you how to do phone triage?). How long is a typical call and are you paid by call? Do companies expect a certain number of calls in a shift? What happens if you have long winded patients?

As you can see I have many questions because I want to know all about it but we didn't learn this in nursing school. All I really know about teletriage is from what I have read on this board. It sounds like it can be very stressful at first? For anybody who started with no triage experience, how long did it take before you felt comfortable? I have been told it takes about 500 calls before you finally feel ok. That's a lot!

Please share any information you think is pertinent or if you have any suggestions for me!

Nonny

[ASloane]

I am a triage nurse for a large FQHC with multiple family practice offices. We do have protocol books. The computer gives us the patient's chart, so we can look up meds, past diagnoses, last clinic appt and what the diagnosis was, etc. I wouldn't dream of being a triage nurse without at least 5 years of nursing experience in an area such as ER where you see patients of all ages and all diagnoses. I have 19 years experience in every imaginable field including ER, Urgent Care, NICU, PICU, adult ICU, and CCU. Even with this experience, triage is very challenging. Many places recommend 10 years of nursing experience prior to doing telephone triage. Some triage books are good but there are a thousand calls that do not fit any triage protocol. You mention 500 calls to be comfortable with triage but, in my opinion, you still aren't anywhere close to being a safe triage nurse with 500 calls. 10,000 hours of nursing experience would be much better preparation. (I have worked with a triage nurse who has done nothing but triage since graduating from nursing school three years ago, and she told virtually every patient to drink more water--good advice for most of us but wholly inadequate to determine a patient's illness and appropriate treatment)

[RobynL]

I started my telephone triage job in Sept. I work part time. I don't know how many calls I've had but I don't feel completely comfortable yet. Each call is different. You have to have good assessment skills to know what to ask a patient because they don't usually know what information you really need. We have specific protocols to follow but again, you have to dig. There is lots to learn, as with any nursing specialty. We have protocol books and the information is also part of the computer program.