Remind me to tell you

[minoanmiss]

why calling in with symptoms gets an extra step rather than speeding up the process, at least at my hospital system.

Comments

[amaebi]

As opposed to…?

[minoanmiss]

this is why i wanted to post about it -- it's counterintuitive.

if a patient calls to make an appointment we make the appointment. UNLESS.

if they have symptoms (pain, sob, swelling,) they need to speak with the Advice/Triage nurse, to make sure they're not dying and to give them advice if possible. Which is another step.

I would design this system a bit differently.

[bikergeek]

Defensive medicine.

[amaebi]

I hypothesize that this structure derives from a comparative lack of nurses, so that non-nurses* staff the initial level of response.

* Presumably less well-paid

[kore]

I bet that's in case of lawsuits.

[conuly]

Well, that makes sense. If they're dying and you make the appointment and then they die because you didn't say "Oh, sorry, we can't do that, we can only advise you to drop the phone and run immediately to the ER without stopping to put on your pants" then liability.

[corvidology]

I've asked about this before and been told if the patient is describing active symptoms they want to triage whether they should be just booked in to the surgery where others might be exposed.

... That said, I think the truth is how much they pay nurses as opposed to reception desk staff.

[minoanmiss]

Yeah, that's thegiven reason.

The problem I see with it is that after waiting awhile to talk to the triage nurse people give up, call back, and get my department again, starting over from scratch. I am thinking about theoretical ways to prevent this.

[contrarywise]

I know that many customer service-type call centers will give people a direct number to call before being transferred/escalated in case the call drops. So perhaps there could be a phone number or extension to provide to people who were in the midst of being diverted to triage to not set them back a step if/when they call back.

[julian]

Yeah, I often have to ask for that, which is not a thing I would think of were I in actual pain.

[minoanmiss]

nod I think I need to ask if there is such a number I can give people. Thank you for the suggestion!

[gingicat]

When I've called, there's always been the option of "press 1 to make an appointment. if you are experiencing symptoms, press 2 to speak to our nurse triage line." So you're getting the people who pressed 1 without listening to the rest of the message.

[minoanmiss]

Hahahaha who has time to listen to the message? Or in other words, yeah, precisely that. And half of them are surprised to have not reached their clinic. It's amusing.

[gingicat]

And before it even gets to the button presses, there's already been the message of "If you are experiencing severe symptoms please hang up and call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room."