Telephone Triage in Student Health

October is here, which means college classes are back in session and students are back on campus. For many students this means they are living away from home and relying on student health for their healthcare. Student health can encompass a wide variety of health promotion and treatment services, and usually involves nurse telephone triage.

ClearTriage is trusted by multiple student health organizations to provide decision support for their telephone triage nurses. Wondering what the most commonly used triage protocols in student health are? We were too, so we compiled a list based on data from the student health organizations we serve.

Top 10 Student Health Protocols:

  1. Sore Throat
  2. COVID-19 – Diagnosed or Suspected
  3. Chest Pain
  4. Cough
  5. Abdominal Pain – Female
  6. Dizziness
  7. Sinus Pain or Congestion
  8. Head Injury
  9. Ankle and Foot Injury
  10. Rash or Redness – Localized

Which Protocols?

So which protocols do you need for your student health organization: Pediatric, Adult, or both? The answer for all of our student health customers is Adult. This is because the protocol authors state in their Clinical User’s Guide that the Adult protocols can be used for ages 16 and up, which should cover the vast majority of your student population.

Click here to see a list of the protocols that are included in the Office Hours Adult protocols.

Or, if you are ready to review the protocols in more detail, sign up for a free trial account and choose the adult protocols.

P.S. If your student health center doesn’t have triage nurses but instead uses MAs or other non-clinical staff to handle symptom-based calls, take a look at SymptomScreen, our product that helps non-clinical staff prioritize symptom-based calls.


ClearTriage is a web-based decision support tool for telephone triage nurses and the leading provider of the Schmitt-Thompson telephone triage protocols. Contact us to learn more or start your 30-day free trial today.

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