There are times when your patients will try to reach you after hours with questions that certainly could have waited until the next day.  It can be frustrating to deal with them, especially when you are trying to spend some much-needed relaxation time.  The thought of sending your patients to voicemail is probably an attractive one, but it’s easy to realize that your patients need your time and attention to feel as though you care about them and their medical problems.  And then there’s the fear that one of them might actually have a very important and life-threatening question some day, and you will have sent them to an automated recording.  If you’ve found yourself between a rock and hard place, trying hard to answer all of your calls while wishing that you had an answering service to help, then nurse telephone triage is exactly what you need.

Nurse telephone triage exists for busy practices just like yours.  When your patients call, they won’t reach you or a recording.  Instead, they will reach a room full of live nurses who can take their questions and dispense medical advice.  Triage means that they symptoms are considered before the problem is escalated.  While you’re relaxing and enjoying your evening, the call center can take the calls and direct your patients to the care they need.  If the question can wait for your attention, your patients will be told that.  If the matter cannot wait, your patient will be sent to the hospital.  All the while, the patients will feel as though they are getting the attention they need.

If you haven’t considered nurse telephone triage for your practice, now is the time to start.  Physician practices everywhere are discovering how a call center can boost their productivity and patient satisfaction.  You don’t want to be left out!