Metrics and expectations - Questions for you

[NurseyNurseface]

Hello Triage friends. I've been given a project at my job to try to decrease our turn-over for triage nurses and improve their overall process. If any of you are willing to answer some questions for me, I'd appreciate it. I'm trying to get a feel for how other triage nurse jobs compare *this can all be anonymous, I'm just gathering general info* No names or usernames will be documented anywhere.

1) How long was your training for your job?

2) What do you like/dislike about your job?

3) How many calls do you take in an average day?

4) How long does it take you take and complete a phone call, then complete the documentation?

5) How many other phone triage nurses are on on your team?

6) Do you know how many calls your triage team as a whole receives in an avg day?

7) Do you have specific protocols in place for most calls, or are you given autonomy in your assessments/advice?

I know this can be a very stressful job. We're trying to make it better for our nurses. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

[middleagednurse]

1. 6 weeks

2. like talking to people, dislike metrics

3.probably 25 to 30 calls a day

4. our phone calls are suppose to last between 11 and 13 minutes, and documentation in less than 2 minutes.

5. I don't know

6. I don't know

7. We have specific guidelines, but we can also use critical thinking.

[NurseyNurseface]

Thanks so much for your reply! I think it's obvious we need to hire more staff. Now I just need to convince the powers that be!

[greystreet41]

I have been a telephone triage nurse since 1996. I worked for a large organization in a call center for the first 10 years of my nursing career. We triaged adults, peds, gyn and mental health calls. For the past 10 years, I have worked from home but for a different large organization doing mostly one speciality.

1) How long was your training for your job? We require at least two months of sitting with experienced nurses going over computer processes, protocols and learning how to triage over the phone without seeing the patient. They are then required to work another four months at our center to use other nurses as resources and meet their metrics before going home to work independently.

2) What do you like/dislike about your job? I really like the autonomy of working independently from home (and all the perks that go along with not having to commute). I like training the new nurses and also find great job satisfaction with empowering our patients with knowledge. I do not like metrics.

3) How many calls do you take in an average day? On an average 10 hour shift, I usually take 55 to 70 calls (5 to 7 calls on average per hour). It all depends on the type of calls and callers you get that day.

4) How long does it take you take and complete a phone call, then complete the documentation? Usually call times are average of 6 to 8 mins. We are encouraged to keep time in between calls 2-3 mins.

5) How many other phone triage nurses are on on your team? Its constantly changing but I think we have between 25 -30 nurses (includes full, part and prn). We will usually have 5 -7 nurses working at overlapping busy times. Could be as little as one person for non busy times and high as 10 nurses on really busy known days (holidays). We staff 24/7.

6) Do you know how many calls your triage team as a whole receives in an avg day? I think we take around 10,000 calls per month

7) Do you have specific protocols in place for most calls, or are you given autonomy in your assessments/advice? Absolutely! We have specific protocols/guidelines that are nationally recognized that we are mandated to use. QA is done every month for each nurse to make sure we are compliant.