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Hi,

Our organization is looking at implementing triage nurses here in our central call center. We had RNs here strictly for Covid triage/advice. We will soon be having a meeting with Epic to look at the possibility of implementing triage. I am in process of taking the AAACN Telephone Triage as Professional Nursing Practice course.

Can anyone share what your onboarding looks like? For example, for an ED nurse transferring to the call center. 
Can you provide a list of skills competencies that are assessed and how often?

Is any training done in an ambulatory setting, ie primary care clinic?

Thank you!

Sarah

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Sarah Vakili
Clinical Nurse III
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
San Jose CA
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Hi Sarah,

What Connie shared is very similar to our orientation and competencies.

Our program only hires nurses with ED or ambulatory experience.  Orientation is the same for both, but we've learned that the ED nurses' learning is focused on the documentation and "investigation skills" required for the chart review process.  Ambulatory nurses are usually savvy with hunting for past clinic notes, lab results, pended orders, etc. which is very different for the ED nurses.  ED nurses have great experience and can pick up the verbal triage skills required over the phone quickly.  The length of orientation can vary for each triage nurse depending on their competency and confidence level.

One of our most successful teaching tools is to pair our headsets with an experienced triage nurse and have the new staff listen to phone calls for a week before attempting to take phone calls.  They can practice their documentation in the playground (through our EMR) while listening even. When they first start taking phone calls there is always an experience triage nurse paired with them.

If you have questions, I'd love to chat.  We have learned so much over our past 20 months, we're still a new program also.

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Sheryl Bartlett BSN RN
Nurse Manager After Hours Triage
UT Southwestern -Clements University Hospital
Dallas TX
(214)563-1120
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Original Message:
Sent: 6/6/2023 10:34:00 AM
From: Sheryl Bartlett
Subject: RE: Triage nurse orientation onboarding and skills competencies

Hi Sarah,

What Connie shared is very similar to our orientation and competencies.

Our program only hires nurses with ED or ambulatory experience.  Orientation is the same for both, but we've learned that the ED nurses' learning is focused on the documentation and "investigation skills" required for the chart review process.  Ambulatory nurses are usually savvy with hunting for past clinic notes, lab results, pended orders, etc. which is very different for the ED nurses.  ED nurses have great experience and can pick up the verbal triage skills required over the phone quickly.  The length of orientation can vary for each triage nurse depending on their competency and confidence level.

One of our most successful teaching tools is to pair our headsets with an experienced triage nurse and have the new staff listen to phone calls for a week before attempting to take phone calls.  They can practice their documentation in the playground (through our EMR) while listening even. When they first start taking phone calls there is always an experience triage nurse paired with them.

If you have questions, I'd love to chat.  We have learned so much over our past 20 months, we're still a new program also.

------------------------------
Sheryl Bartlett BSN RN
Nurse Manager After Hours Triage
UT Southwestern -Clements University Hospital
Dallas TX
(214)563-1120
------------------------------