We did an RN call audit at work

I work in a 10 doc oncology office. We have a phone triage nurse to take calls. We field an average of150 calls per day. Most of the time, the nurse can advise the patient without going to the doc. If not, we leave a messaage for the doc with our recommendation for the question. We have a specific form used for this. If you would like, I would be happy to fax you one. Just email me at [email protected]

First of all, the clinic I work in, the nurses are divided into 3 duty stations. The first is called Triage where the nurse answers calls from patients for results, med renews, questions, problems, triage emergencies, etc, etc, etc. There are 2 triage desks, one has 3 docs and one has 4. The second is the Float nurse and she sees patients for simple problems like UTI's (we have standing orders for meds) ear syringes, BP checks etc. She also helps with the INRs and takes some of the load off the triage nurses. The last is called derm/procedure and immunization where we run a derm clinic (mainly for wart tx), assist with minor procedures and run an immunization clinic.

Last week our head nurse decided to do an audit of our Triage desks. All along I thought we fielded about 40 to 50 calls a day...in actual fact it's more like 75 to 100 a day! And that's not including the paper work the docs generate for us. It's not uncommon for what I grimly call a "mini Mount Everest" of charts to grow next to us while we frantically try to keep up with never ending influx of calls. With two lines that frequently ring in tandem and a VM with a capacity of Lord knows what...it's small wonder that I come home from work tired and stressed.

Do you guys have a triage desk? How does your office deal with those kinds of incoming calls.