Triage in Primary Care

[Ta Jo, BSN]

My clinic wants nurses to do telephone and in person triage when there is no medical provider on the premises.  I am wondering of this is within  an RN scope. I know that a local medical center does not allow nurses to answer phones without an in duty provider, but I can't find a source to document this. 

Please advise.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Ta Jo said:

My clinic wants nurses to do telephone and in person triage when there is no medical provider on the premises.  I am wondering of this is within  an RN scope. I know that a local medical center does not allow nurses to answer phones without an in duty provider, but I can't find a source to document this. 

Please advise.

Look at your state scope of practice. But just in general, I would guess no

[Wuzzie]

In person...no. Telephone should be fine as long as you have a covering provider. 

[dianah, ASN]

Wuzzie said:

In person...no. Telephone should be fine as long as you have a covering provider. 

AND lots of written protocols.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Our triage nurses work from home, so...

[Ta Jo, BSN]

Thanks. If anyone knows where I can get any guidelines,  I'd be grateful.  I've written to my BON so maybe they can clarify for me.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Check out Schmitt-Thompson protocols. They're very commonly used triage protocols for pretty much everything.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Guidelines:

Schmitt-Thompson Clinical Content | Nurse Triage Guidelines

Office-Hours Telephone Triage Guidelines User's Guide 2020

Mercy One: Adult Triage Protocol

American Academy of Pediatrics Schmitt Pediatric Care Advice

[klone, MSN, RN]

Also, every organization I've worked for has had a set of protocols and standing orders for things that RNs can do independently for in-person triage, and it does not require an MD/LIP to be present in the building.

It absolutely CAN be done, you just need to have very specific written guidelines for WHICH things an RN can do/see/triage independently, written protocols/decision tree for how handle it ("if X, then Z"), and in what circumstances the RN needs to either bring in an LIP for consult, or call EMS for an ambulance trip to the nearest ED.

[Ta Jo, BSN]

Thank you.