Open Forum

Good afternoon, 

I work within a large health system that includes many primary care and specialty care practices. In Epic, our primary care nurses use the Schmitt–Thompson (ST) triage protocols for decision support. However, these protocols are often not appropriate for specialty care settings. We have collaborated with our specialty nurses to review the ST protocols and identify the few that may be relevant/appropriate to use.

I'm interested in learning what other triage tools, resources, or protocols specialty nurses use in their practices. What decision-support frameworks or evidence‑based triage resources have you found effective in specialty care?

Thank you!

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Katharine Weeks, BSN RN
Nurse Manager, Clinical Practice and Education
Mass General Brigham Community Division
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Thanks for posting! I am interested as well. We also use Schmitt Thompson for primary care, but there are limited resources to my knowledge for triaging specialty care. 

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[Melissa] [Budnick]
[Membership and Association Services Manager]
[AAACN]
[Pitman] [NJ]
[856-256-2326]
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2026 12:37
From: Katharine Weeks
Subject: Specialty office triage

Good afternoon, 

I work within a large health system that includes many primary care and specialty care practices. In Epic, our primary care nurses use the Schmitt–Thompson (ST) triage protocols for decision support. However, these protocols are often not appropriate for specialty care settings. We have collaborated with our specialty nurses to review the ST protocols and identify the few that may be relevant/appropriate to use.

I'm interested in learning what other triage tools, resources, or protocols specialty nurses use in their practices. What decision-support frameworks or evidence‑based triage resources have you found effective in specialty care?

Thank you!

------------------------------
Katharine Weeks, BSN RN
Nurse Manager, Clinical Practice and Education
Mass General Brigham Community Division
------------------------------

We are currently starting our go-live process with specialty practices.  I am also interested to see what others do.  As of now, we have shared the protocols and let the leadership of the specialty practices know how our workflow process goes.  If they have any specific guidelines, we have advised it has to be standardized throughout the specialty and not one practice here or there.  We are starting office hours first as the answering service is not yet ready to transfer calls to our after-hours staff.  Looking forward to hearing about resources and other processes.

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Patricia Yon, BSN, RN, AMB-BC
Clinical Manager Nurse Triage
Sentara Ambulatory Services
Norfolk, Virginia
757-252-3247
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2026 12:37
From: Katharine Weeks
Subject: Specialty office triage

Good afternoon, 

I work within a large health system that includes many primary care and specialty care practices. In Epic, our primary care nurses use the Schmitt–Thompson (ST) triage protocols for decision support. However, these protocols are often not appropriate for specialty care settings. We have collaborated with our specialty nurses to review the ST protocols and identify the few that may be relevant/appropriate to use.

I'm interested in learning what other triage tools, resources, or protocols specialty nurses use in their practices. What decision-support frameworks or evidence‑based triage resources have you found effective in specialty care?

Thank you!

------------------------------
Katharine Weeks, BSN RN
Nurse Manager, Clinical Practice and Education
Mass General Brigham Community Division
------------------------------