new problem how do you manage calls in your office

Sekar · Oct 26, 2003

Originally posted by maineiac
Looking for some solutions, the office is down 3 people in the front. The 6 phone lines are ringing off the hook. This is causing real stress to the 2 people out front and resulting in patients being on hold for 20 min, hanging up in frusteration or the wrong line being picked up so confidential information was communicated. Luckily in the last instance the caller was a nurse friend of mine calling about coumadin protocols.

Management meeting is on Monday so I would love to have some ideas over the weekend.

blessings
chuck

I don't know all the facts, but it sounds like y'all are trying to handle the calls as they come in. Wrong answer. Take a message on all non-emergency calls (real emergenies, not what the patient considers an emergency). Have the Nursing staff triage the messages and call the patients back according to the triage. That's how we do it. Also patients understand that they might not be called back right away, but someone will get to them within 24 hours. With one receptionist, one Nurse, two Medical Assistants, that's about as good as it gets. It's not ideal, but it works. Hope this helps.

maineiac · Oct 27, 2003

thanks for your reply. we are trying to answer calss as they come in. today at the management meeting we decided to restrict the incoming lines untill the new staff is up to speed and we are able to hire additional staff.

would welcome other ideas about how to decrease incoming calls, the office feels like a mash unit lol

Vailgang · Nov 1, 2003

I can understand. Have them answer the phone, tell the person calling that we need to take a message and will call them back when they have time and explain that it may be several hours or even after hours. I know that you can not put other offices on hold but most patients can wait until you have a minute. It may mean that you will have to stay late and return phone calls but hopefully you turn off the phones at 5 and so you can call them and they can't call you. It goes faster when you are just doing outgoing calls.

Just a suggestion. Jill

maineiac · Nov 2, 2003

Good idea, we already do turn the phones off at 4:30.The biggest offender seems to be the pharmacy.For instance they will have a patient at the pharmacy fax us a request and then call back sometimes repeatedly.Our 48 hour refill policy is clearly written in the front office and clearly stated on our new rx line.Without being rude how can I enforce it?

Vailgang · Nov 2, 2003

I have been there many times. First realize that you are not being rude they are. Simply have the person tell them that it will be 7:00 pm (or whatever time you want) before you will get that medication called in and that they should call the pharmacy after that time. And remind them that you do require a 48 hour notice. You are not being rude they are being demanding.

Just Friday I had a mother call in for pain medication and no lie about 15 minutes at the most call me back and ask me if I had called it in yet because we closed at noon and it was almost noon. I had the front office tell her it would be 3:00 pm before I could call it in. That way she didn't bother me again.

If they get upset which they will just tell them (or have the front office) that you will get to it as soon as you can. And yes, they will do it again but after a few times it works. They are like kids and you have to teach them who is in charge---You. Also I put their chart on the bottom of my stack each time they call if they make me made......(that is just me)

Kir · Nov 30, 2003

We have a medication line the medical record staff listens to, writes the RF request and pulls the chart. (phonetic spelling of drugs is sometimes a challenge) This stack then goes to the triage nurse of the day. Her first priority is to answer nurse calls (BTW between having the med line and front office asking if the question has to do with scheduling a routine exam helps out a lot) If the triage nurse is on another line another nurse will pick up and take care. This has worked very well for us because then we only have one nurse booking patients in the 'double secret appointment' spots (ie, begining of a WCC or physical exam) There are some days if someone calls in sick the triage nurse is on the floor, then it is a free for all and the front office takes messages. We have tried to enforce the 24 hour turn around Rx policy but we are still in the teaching phase of all of this. I don't have a huge problem with some of my old folks calling and asking for a RF that day. I am just glad they are taking their meds. The people who pi** me off are those going on vacation who forgot to call and request meds. They are usually on thier way to the airport...

kids · Nov 30, 2003

The clinic I was at until recently was in a similar situation for a while.

Their solution was to route all calls thru the schedulers who forwarded the advice/triage calls to the nurses. If triage/advice thought the patient needed to be seen they were passed back to scheduling (we were all in the same room).

All refill requests were forwarded to voice mail, no exceptions.

We also had a dedicated line for other providers to call us on (so they didn't end up in the que) that was answered as a priority.

maineiac · Dec 2, 2003

Indeed some good ideas! in response to rx's the worst so far has been the mom with a son on effexor who haden't seem anbody for 6 months and was feeling suicidal ,,also at the other end of the state and mom wanted to know could i call in a refill within the next ten minutes as she was leaving for a trip and wanted to mail his rx before she left.

My staff is so overwhelmed by the phone that at each ring some negative comment escapes, this just drags down the whole office.

Our phones are our lifelines, although I empathize I really don't have any good ideas how to solve the problem.We cannot afford any additional staff just now, and I have turned off ! line while we have been down to 2 front desk people.

thank you all so much for sharing your wisdom.

whatever anyone might think office nurses are on the front lines and it is not the cushy job some envision.