Telephone Triage Protocols for Nurses

Book excerpt: Performing telephone triage requires the ability to make quick and effective decisions based on limited information. This rapid-access resource delivers more than 200 triage protocols for evaluating patients' symptoms over the telephone. Each symptom entry lists questions, grouped by urgency level, to determine whether the caller should seek emergency care immediately, seek medical care the same day, call back for appointment, or follow home care instructions. Detailed home care instructions are then provided. Simple, direct, and useful, this is the most comprehensive and user-friendly telephone triage book available.