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Discussion

OMG the cell phone is out

My triages average about five minutes, and I expect patients to be focussing on our conversation while they are in the triage booth. I'm trying to find a way to deal with patients that pull out their cell phone and text, or answer a call mid triage. It drives me silly. I ask "can you put that away" or halt the triage and stare at them as they talk.

Give me the magic words, or a magic eject button, oh ER triage muses.

If the family member starts talking on the phone during triage...same question. I usually open the door and gesture for them to step out, and they give me the "just a second" gesture.

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    I just tell them, if you need to take that call more than you need me to assess your emergency you can have a seat back in the lobby and I'll call you back up at my earliest convenience. I'd be happy to finish your triage now, but I need you to get off the phone.

    I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.

    Author: Art Williams

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    Assuming the waiting area is busy, I don't even ask them to hang up. I stop charting, stand up, open the door to the waiting room and tell them I have to call them back in a while. I call the next patient and tell them in my best Army NCO voice, "make sure that cell phone is off."

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    Fabulous!

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    • Expert

    Our ER has a sign in each triage room that states if the patient starts talking on a cell phone, the staff is required to leave the room and stop the triage process. It has helped to cut down on people talking/texting during triage. Usually, a simple "you'll need to go back to the waiting room" gets them off the phone immediately. There's always the small cluster that act like jerks about it. But most don't want to get sent back to waiting

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    We boot em back to the waiting room. IF they get rude when they're name is called to be seen in the rapid care area, we typically tell them "you lost your spot" call the next name and then they'll be seen after. We work in the ghetto, and the level of disrespect has to be kept in check. It's amazing how people think we are a hotel. I treat all patients with respect, I expect the same.

    We have the shortest ER wait times in the whole region. Waits for anyone longer than 2 hours are extremely rare and most days the waits are under an hour for all levels. If you complain about your 30 minute wait time, you can wait a little longer.

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    Those waiting times are amazing! We may get our patient into the acute area and blood, XR etc done but no doctor for 4-6 hrs is easy (over night esp. ).

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