Nurse telephone triage is a unique service offered by medical answering services that can save your patients' lives and save you from unpleasant litigation. The service is provided by qualified nursing professionals who can give advice and treatment recommendations. Available around the clock, it allows you to continue to have a personal life even as you devote yourself to serving your patients' needs.
It is a patient's worst nightmare. In pain or having some sort of adverse reaction to a medication, the patient makes a frantic call to the doctor's office. After a few tense rings, a voice comes on the line . . . inviting them to leave a message that will be returned when the clinic reopens. Or, they get routed to a voicemail box that is checked periodically. With no idea when they might hear from you, the patient sits tight and suffers further, or rushes to an emergency room when they could have just taken an aspirin.
Your personalized nurse telephone triage system can run around the clock, whether your office is open or closed. During office hours, the triage line can serve as an appointment setter and call screener. They can route 911 level calls straight through to you or the EMTs while spending time comforting the lonely souls who aren't truly sick but want the comfort of talking to a medical professional.
When the office is closed, the nurse telephone triage system can provide warm and personal service to your patients evenings, weekends, and holidays. You know you get the calls--right when you are sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, or just as soon as you close your eyes for the first decent night of sleep in weeks. Having someone else take those calls and handle as much of them as possible will save your sanity while preserving your client relationships.
Your patients will thank you for providing them with access to medical staff in their hour of need. Since you will have trained nurses answering your nurse telephone triage line, your patients will come to trust you as someone who looks out for their best interests at all times, keeping them safe by giving them answers when they need them. You'll be able to stop emergencies before they become life threatening, and also avoid the potential financial tragedy of a malpractice suit caused because your office was unavailable to provide a simple answer.
