Telephonic Triage Nurse

Job Information  

Title: Telephonic Triage Nurse 

Department: Nursing 

Position Classification/Category: Clinical  

Reports To:  Director of Nursing  

Summary of Position 

Under the general supervision of the Director of Nursing, the Triage Nurse will be responsible for patient triaging, the nurse phone line, assist with nurse case management, nursing assessments, collaboration with providers and other departments, and provision of quality patient care in compliance with local, state and federal regulations and accreditation standards. The telephonic triage nurse must adhere to Kintegra Health’s Teleworking Policy.

Minimal Qualifications:

Must be able to sit, stand and walk for long periods of time, able to read and understand the English language, able to effectively maintain confidentiality of health information and communicate with all levels of personnel. Must have knowledge and understanding for chronic illness and health promotion. Current RN or LPN license without restrictions.

Experience: 3 years of nursing experience with one year including triage (preferred)

Education: Associates Degree Nursing (preferred)

Certification(s)/Licensure: BLS required ACLS/PALS (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Monitors and responds to triage calls in person and/or on the nurse phone line.
• Talks directly to patients on the telephone and then directs them to emergency rooms (ERs), urgent care centers, and home care advice or to schedule patients to their physician during office hours.
• Determines urgency of seeing the patient based on brief assessment and on familiarity with a patient’s condition and history.
• Uses computerized clinical decision-making including algorithms that closely imitate physician logic and thought patterns, as guide.
• Sends patients with high-risk chief complaints such as chest pain, abdominal pain, or severe headaches to ER immediately or arranges for ambulance.
• Provides appropriate home health advice to patients who do not need to go directly to the ER.
• Ensures accurate notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients’ record via Electronic Health Record
• Arranges appointments for patients who do not need to go to ER but need to see a physician. Consults with physician as needed.
• Serve as a clinical resource and professional role model for other nursing staff.
• Prioritizes work tasks and services and completes tasks in a timely manner.
• Assist in medical chart reviews and compiling data for audits and reports.
• Assist Managing Nurse with developing nursing policies and procedures.
• Maintains accurate, clear and concise progress notes, problem lists, and medication lists.
• Provides patient education regarding disease processes, therapies and healthful behaviors.
• Participates in staff, planning, in-service, and other meetings as needed.
• Performs other duties as assigned

Kintegra Health Core Requirements

1. Patient First - An approach to care that holds primary, the well-being and desires of the patient.
2. Build not Blame - Focusing first on finding fault with the process rather than the person.
3. Integrity and Honesty - Fostering an acceptance of openness, honesty, and fairness in words, deeds and the use of organizational resources judiciously for both internal and external customers.
4. Cooperation and Flexibility - Related to an internal believe that we function as part of an interdependent team with only shared gains or losses thereby committed to assisting whenever possible beyond the prerequisite job description.
5. Culturally Sensitive - Always working toward increasing one's ability to understand, communicate with, effectively interact and care for people across cultures, while having an acute awareness of one's own culture.

Kintegra Health is a community sponsored, family-centered provider of health care, health education and preventive care services without regard to the ability to pay. We screen potential employees to first ensure alignment with our core requirements followed by the requisite position skills set. In doing so we need staff committed to this mission who do their best to live and work the characteristics of our core values as we strive to care for ever increasing members of the communities we serve.

 Our goals are:

• To provide continuing comprehensive and accessible primary care services to individuals and families of all economic levels within Kintegra communities.
• To provide primary care services to meet the physical as well as social health needs of individuals and families, promoting health maintenance, providing timely diagnostics, treatment and referral services.
• To emphasize preventive care through patient and community education to help individuals become aware and responsible for their own health behaviors.
• To employ an interdisciplinary team approach in collaboration with other community providers to provide a continuum of appropriate patient/family-oriented care in a cost-effective manner.