Triage Registered Nurse

Triage Registered Nurse

Eastover - Charlotte, NC 28204

Overview

Position Type Full Time Category Health Care

Triage Registered Nurse

General Summary: A non-exempt position responsible for providing triage (sorting/prioritizing patients) telephone service to ensure prompt resolution of patient care concerns or issues. Able to travel to all clinic locations within the company, workdays M-F and up to 40 hrs. per week. The position offers remote flexibility contingent upon meeting the eligibility criteria outlined in #503 Telecommuting Policy.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

• Talks directly to patients on the telephone and provides them with guidance for care, medication regimen, or to see their physician during office hours.
• Performs short evaluation of the patient situation to estimate severity of illness and/or injury including learning about chief complaint and, as possible, obtaining vital sign and mental status information.
• Determines urgency of seeing the patient based on brief assessment and familiarity with a patient's condition and history. May use computerized medical information database and confers with physician as needed.
• Advises those with high-risk chief complaints to urgent care. May provide appropriate home health advice to those patients who do not need to go directly to the ER (Emergency Room).
• Sets up appointments for patients who do not need to go to the ER but need to see a physician or arranges for an appointment scheduler to make the appointment.
• Acts, when designated, in "Ask a Nurse" capacity, managing routine information requests from patients, e.g., "Do I need a flu shot every year? When are you giving these shots?"
• Receives patient calls via the Urgent Triage Live Queue, evaluating the urgency of their concerns and adeptly directing them to the appropriate place or staff, as necessary.
• Adheres to Clinical Tasking Guide when directing inquiries.
• Completes Intravenous and Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin Treatment authorizations and serves as a point of contact for the patient and IVIG (Intravenous Immune Globulin) companies.
• Able to renew medication prescriptions per protocol and prior authorizations when needed for refills.
• Ability to perform duties as a staff RN (Registered Nurse) when needed.
• Complete prior authorizations for Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) medications while maintaining ongoing communication to keep patients informed of authorization progress and any relevant updates.
• Utilizes work time wisely and efficiently by completing clinical tasks, assisting with triage tasks, calling patients for lab and/or radiology results, completing the prior authorization paperwork needed for medication approvals, assisting team members, cleaning, organizing, stocking, and putting supplies away and preparing the office to run efficiently.
• Serves as a resource for CAAC staff offering expertise in medical information, patient assessment, and nursing care for various health conditions.
• Follows policies and protocols as written.
• Submits timely response/justification to the Significant Event Report.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education: RN or LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) degree; PN, BSN or MSN degree preferred. On-the-job training in triage.

Experience: Minimum five years of experience as RN or LPN; one to two years of telephone triage experience, preferably in medical practice setting.

Other Requirements: Current state RN or LPN license. Current BLS (Basic Life Support) certificate.

Performance Requirements:

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of telephone-based clinical assessment techniques.
• Knowledge of medical practice telephone triage protocols.
• Knowledge of appropriate home health information for patients to follow until visit with physician if they do not need an immediate ER visit.

Skills:

• Skill in using electronic medical records to check patient history.
• Skill in using computerized medical information database during evaluation as guide to appropriate decision.
• Skill in making triage decisions and responding quickly and calmly in emergency situations such as calling 911 and arranging for ambulances.

Abilities:

• Ability to communicate clearly and calmly with patients.
• Ability to elicit information needed to make brief evaluation.
• Ability to work closely with physicians and other clinicians as needed.
• Ability to provide excellent customer service in all call situations.