How does the breakdown of telephone triage call dispositions in your office compare with that of your peers around the country? And how do the protocols you use most frequently compare with what other offices use?
While ClearTriage doesn’t store patient information, we do keep track of the protocols and dispositions our customers are using. We recently gathered data from approximately 200,000 triage calls taken with ClearTriage by more than 150 pediatric practices and clinics to support an article written by Dr. Andy Schuman for Contemporary Pediatrics. We were excited to be part of this work because prior to ClearTriage, there was no source of accurate triage data from individual practices and clinics. Past data was only available from large call centers without a personal relationship with the caller.
Although the top 10 protocols used in our customers’ practices and clinics were fairly similar to the top 10 reported in use in daytime call centers, it was interesting to note that protocols like Constipation, Fever and Sore Throat were used more frequently. Perhaps this is because parents would rather talk about these symptoms with their medical home rather than calling a more general call center.
Overall, less than 0.1% of callers were told to call 911 and only 3% were sent to the ED or Urgent Care. On the other hand, more than 57% of callers were given instructions to care for their child at home while 21% of calls resulted in same day appointments and 16% received appointments in the next few days. And we’re working on a new report so soon you’ll be able to see these percentages for your own organization!
You can read Dr. Schumann’s full article online. And we’re exploring ways to offer reports letting all of our customers compare their usage against national averages. Stay tuned for more on that in the future!
