I have recently been appointed interim nurse manager of the ER I work in. . . I have no intention of applying for the job! BUT while I am acting in this role there are a few things I would like to change.
One being nurse calls. Our current policy states that the call should be brief and medical advice should not be given over the phone.
We (the nurses) would like to see the calls stopped all together. The powers that be feel it is good customer service. We see that it upsets people because we talk to the callers in circles. Nursing also sees it as a safety issue. We do not document these calls, we are pulled away from patient care, the callers press you and press you for any bit of information. The calls make us miserable.
I have tried doing some searches for articles on this risky behavior and must not be using the right search words, as I am not having any luck. Does anyone have any policies, words of wisdom to share. I would really like some articles that I can go to my boss with showing why these calls are a bad idea. Does anyone use scripting? Has anyone been successful in un-publishing their ER phone number? How did you gain switchboards cooperation - they turf everything to us that they don't know what to do with. Any help, advice, direction, links, whatever would be appreciated.
I do realize that we have an obligation to patients we have recently seen, but I am talking about the "my kid has a rash that looks like . . . "
Has anyone ever heard of "dial a nurse" In my city we can dial a nurse for advice but i think it is through specific insurance companies. Im not %100 of how it works but I have witnessed people calling "dial a nurse" to get questions and concerns they may have answered. I wonder what the liability issues are when it comes to a nurse calling service?
I wonder what the liability issues are when it comes to a nurse calling service?
Well, when I did the telephone triage thing (ask a nurse, dial a nurse, whatever) we were a regular hospital unit with a medical director and nurse manager. We strickly followed computer protocols and documented every call. I think the liability is really no different from other kinds of nursing: you need to work within the policies and procedures of the unit and you're good to go. Telephone triage is a specialty all its own.
I can tell you you're a lot better off than giving advice off the top of your head in a busy ER and not documenting it.
Here is my telephone advice horror story. Many years ago I worked in a physician's office. One of our patients called to report "my baby has a rash, I think it is chicken pox, what should I do". I gave the standard answer, I cannot diagnose a rash over the phone. If you would like I can schedule you an appointment to see the Dr. She chose to just watch it since she was sure it was chicken pox. Apparently the baby got sicker and sicker because they ended up in the ER that night with......meningitis. To this day that call still haunts me and I will never give advice over the phone to anyone except see your doctor. Not even family.
we give no medical advice over the telephone. period. Our registration clerks who answer our telephones tell people that when they call. It may be a rude and crude way of dealing with these calls but our nurses do not have time to talk on the phone.
People have pretty much accepted this and the number of calls are way down since we started this over a year ago.
KMMM
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Has anyone ever heard of "dial a nurse" In my city we can dial a nurse for advice but i think it is through specific insurance companies. Im not %100 of how it works but I have witnessed people calling "dial a nurse" to get questions and concerns they may have answered. I wonder what the liability issues are when it comes to a nurse calling service?