Telephone Triage

Of all the exciting advances in medicine, one falls outside the traditional scope of new drugs, innovative procedures, or revealing research. This development is in the application of telephone technology to facilitate the provision of healthcare. One of the most exciting developments in telemedicine is telephone or nurse triage. The history of telephone triage dates back three decades.

If you wish to look into this opportunity, here are some resources to consider:

Telephone Triage Literature: As a primer for learning more about telephone triage, you might want to refer to some of the many books available on the subject. Here is a list of some of them (let us know your favorites and we will add them to our list):

  • Pediatric Telephone Advice by Barton D. Schmitt, Raymond C. Baker (Spiral-bound)
  • Pediatric Telephone Protocols: Office Version by American Academy of Pediatrics, Barton D. Schmitt
  • Quick Reference to Triage by Valerie G. A. Grossman, et al.
  • Telephone Health Assessment by Sandra M. Simonsen
  • Telephone Medicine: Triage and Training: A Handbook for Primary Care Health Professionals by Harvey R. Katz, Harvey P. Katz
  • Telephone Triage: Theory, Practice, and Protocol Development by Sheila Q. Wheeler, Judith Windt
  • Telephone Triage for Obstetrics and Gynecology by Vicki E. Long, Patricia C. McMullen
  • Telephone Triage of the Obstetric Patient by Deborah E. Swenson
  • Telephone Triage Protocols for Adult and School Age Populations with Women’s Health and Infant/Child Protocols by Sheila Wheeler, RN, MS
  • Tele-Nurse by Marijo Baird, Sandi Lafferty

Telephone Triage Providers: There are several call centers, which provide telephone triage on, an outsource basis or for a fee to hospitals, clients, individual practices, and medical answering services:

The Beryl Companies
3600 Harwood Road
Bedford, TX 76021
Steve Schaumburg, Director of Marketing
800-833-2000
Steve.Schaumburg@Beryl.Net
www.beryl.net

Fonemed, LLC
2975 Broadmoor Valley Rd, Suite 201
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Eric Stoen, Sr. VP, Operations
888-366-3633
stoen@fonemed.com
www.fonemed.com

HealthLine Systems, Inc.
17085 Camino San Bernardo
San Diego, CA 92127
Richard D. Stier, Vice President
800-733-8737
RStier@healthlinesystems.com
www.healthlinesystems.com

NotePage, Inc.
PO Box 296
Hanover, MA 02339
S. Housley
781-829-0500
sales@notepage.net
www.notepage.net

Telephone Triage Vendors: The following vendors have integrated telephone triage protocols into call center software:

Epic Systems Corporation
5301 Tokay Blvd.
Madison, WI 53711-1027
608-271-9000

LVM Systems
1818 E Southern Ave, Ste 15A
Mesa, AZ 85204
480-633-8200
info@lvmsystems.com
www.lvmsystems.com

McKesson
CareEnhance Systems
Phoenix, AZ 85012
800-345-3342 x1230
www.epic.com

Fonemed, LLC
2975 Broadmoor Valley Rd, Suite 201
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Eric Stoen, Sr. VP, Operations
888-366-3633
stoen@fonemed.com
www.fonemed.com

HealthLine Systems, Inc.
17085 Camino San Bernardo
San Diego, CA 92127
Richard D. Stier, Vice President
800-733-8737
RStier@healthlinesystems.com
www.healthlinesystems.com

NotePage, Inc.
PO Box 296
Hanover , MA 02339
S. Housley, Webmaster
781-829-0500
sales@notepage.net

Additional Resources: In addition to information on the websites of the preceding vendors, also refer to:

allnurses.com
Bulletin board for telephone triage nurses
http://allnurses.com

[Submit additional information about telephone triage books, outsourcers, and software to dehaan@connectionsmagazine.com.] 

[From Connection MagazineApril 2004]