What's a Nurse Telephone Triage Line?
If you're in the medical industry, you may have heard the phrase "nurse telephone triage" passed around the office a few times. As it's a relatively new type of service, you may not be familiar with what it is, exactly. With a name like that, you'll probably be relieved to hear that it's not as complicated as it sounds. Many medical centers have responded to their large administrative requirements by turning to outside agencies to handle some of their calls and reception work. These medical answer services take an untenable weight off of medical offices and organizations, fielding call overflow and off-hours reception.
While outsourcing your calls to a medical call center can be a great relief for your organization, it's not going to solve all of your problems. The biggest concern is that the person answering the phones won't be able to answer a particular medical question, and will have to forward the call to the voicemail of a general practitioner (GP) or specialist in your practice. In these cases, you end up having to respond directly to the calls that you are paying someone else to handle - a frustrating redundancy.
Instead of forwarding your calls to someone without hands-on medical knowledge, you can choose to work with a nurse telephone triage. These call lines connect callers directly to a trained, experienced nurse. The result is that a significantly higher number of medical questions can be answered via the call center, and fewer voicemail messages need to be left for the regular staff of the medical office. In many case studies, the trained nurses involved have been able to answer well over 50% of call questions, resulting in efficiency and top-quality client service.
Nurse telephone triage offers a great combination of two important features: quality medical advice and efficient outsourcing solutions. Certain medical answering services offer this triage service as part of what they provide. If you're considering sending your calls out to another organization, it's a great idea to investigate into whether or not they will be able to provide you with a nurse telephone triage. If so, you're making a good decision. Your clients will be better cared for and feel better attended to, you'll streamline your administrative concerns, and the professionals in your medical office will have fewer calls to return in the morning. The result is the best of all possible scenarios.
While outsourcing your calls to a medical call center can be a great relief for your organization, it's not going to solve all of your problems. The biggest concern is that the person answering the phones won't be able to answer a particular medical question, and will have to forward the call to the voicemail of a general practitioner (GP) or specialist in your practice. In these cases, you end up having to respond directly to the calls that you are paying someone else to handle - a frustrating redundancy.
Instead of forwarding your calls to someone without hands-on medical knowledge, you can choose to work with a nurse telephone triage. These call lines connect callers directly to a trained, experienced nurse. The result is that a significantly higher number of medical questions can be answered via the call center, and fewer voicemail messages need to be left for the regular staff of the medical office. In many case studies, the trained nurses involved have been able to answer well over 50% of call questions, resulting in efficiency and top-quality client service.
Nurse telephone triage offers a great combination of two important features: quality medical advice and efficient outsourcing solutions. Certain medical answering services offer this triage service as part of what they provide. If you're considering sending your calls out to another organization, it's a great idea to investigate into whether or not they will be able to provide you with a nurse telephone triage. If so, you're making a good decision. Your clients will be better cared for and feel better attended to, you'll streamline your administrative concerns, and the professionals in your medical office will have fewer calls to return in the morning. The result is the best of all possible scenarios.
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