New Telephone Triage Nurse

Specialties Triage

Published

Hi All-Nurses!

I'll be starting a new position as a Telephone Triage Nurse in the next couple of months. My background's been mostly in primary health and inpatient psychiatry, but I've had some triage experience through phone and walk-ins during the past few years.

Any Telephone Triage Nurses out there w/ any advice on how I can use the next couple months to prepare for this role?

What are the top topics that your patients call about?

Thanks in advance!

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I found that reading books with telephone triage protocols has been super helpful, even though the specific protocols for your organization might be different, it will still give you a general idea of how to decide what level of care your patients will need for their symptoms.

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Specializes in 25 years NICU 5 years Telephone Triage.

Be prepared for calls about anything and everything. I work with around 500 different protocols. Lately it’s mostly cough cold flu advice. Be prepared for angry callers who have been on hold for you for a long time. Be prepared for micromanagement. Your calls are all most likely recorded and you will be graded on the quality of your calls.
good luck. It is not easy. I take 30-40 calls in 8 hrs. PM me for more info if you want.

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