Triage Telephone Nurse

ECU Health Medical Center • Greenville, NC

8d • $35 - $51 • Remote

About The Position

Responsible for providing triage (sorting/ prioritizing patients) telephone service to ensure prompt response to patient/ family calls to assess need to be seen, identify urgency to be seen and offer options for home care and self-management if appropriate. The Nurse talks directly to patients on the telephone and then directs them as appropriate to emergency care, WCU Health Symptom Management Clinic, or to see an oncology provider during office hours. This role involves performing a short evaluation of the patient's situation to estimate the severity of illness and/or injury, including learning about the chief complaint, obtaining vital signs (fever, pulse, respiratory rate, pain, changes in color, effort of breathing, audible breath sounds), and mental status information (sleeping more, lethargic, irritable). The nurse will assess pain, fatigue, and other symptoms related to current therapy/surgical intervention, determine the urgency of seeing the patient based on assessment and familiarity with the patient's condition and history, and use approved oncology telephone triage protocols. The nurse will confer with a physician as needed, send patients with high-risk chief complaints to the ED immediately or arrange for an ambulance per protocol, and may provide appropriate home care advice to patients who do not need to go directly to the ED. Additionally, the nurse will set up appointments for patients who need to see a physician but not go to the ED, provide prescription refills per approved policy guidelines, and direct other refill requests to the appropriate clinician.

Requirements

• ADN or higher is required.
• Minimum 5 years experience as RN
• Current NC or Compact RN license
• Current CPR certificate required.

Nice To Haves

• BSN preferred
• Med/Surg certification or ONS certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Talks directly to patients on the telephone and then directs them as appropriate to emergency care, WCU Health Symptom Management Clinic, or to see oncology provider during office hours.
• Perform short evaluation of the patient's situation to estimate severity of illness and/or injury including learning about the chief complaint and, when possible, obtaining vital signs (fever, pulse, respiratory rate, pain, changes in color especially lips, hands, effort of breathing, audible breath sounds) and mental status information (sleeping more, lethargic, irritable), assessing pain, fatigue, and other symptoms related to current therapy/surgical intervention.
• Determines urgency need of seeing the patient based on brief assessment and on familiarity with the patient's condition and history.
• Uses approved oncology telephone triage protocols in written form.
• Confers with physician as needed.
• Sends those with high-risk chief complaints such as increased effort of breathing, shortness of breath, altered level of consciousness, bleeding, trauma, loss of consciousness, or first-time seizure activity to ED immediately or arranges for ambulance per protocol.
• May provide appropriate home care advice to those patients who do not need to go directly to the ED.
• Sets up appointments for patients who do not need to go to the ED But need to see a physician or arranges for appointment scheduler to make the appointment.
• Provides prescription refills per approved policy guidelines, directs other refill requests to the appropriate clinician as a pended prescription.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree