Before you begin the course, please read through the following continuing education instructions and disclosure information, and take a pre-test.
Description:
Telephone triage is complex, potentially high risk, and full scope practice. Organizational support, formalized training, practice standards, and most importantly, nurses who incorporate critical thinking and clinical judgement are necessary to deliver appropriate care advice. This module introduces telehealth concepts with a focus on telephone triage nursing practice and explains what it is and what it is not. The right mindset is essential to practice safely.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to explain telephone triage as it relates to professional nursing and telehealth.
Description:
In this module, you will learn about the basic standards of practice in – and how they relate to – telephone triage. Then you will learn to use the nursing process to convey the complexity, significance, and risk associated with telephone triage and prepare yourself to provide safe and effective care over the telephone. Additionally, you will review the Code of Ethics and ethical dilemmas relevant to your role as a telephone triage nurse.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to describe how practice standards apply to telephone triage.
Description:
This module covers federal, state, and institutional regulations and their impact on telephone triage nursing practice. Professional nursing practice is guided by a code of ethics, scope of practice, and practice standards, which lay out accountability, rules, and guidelines for practice. Telephone triage nurses answer to multiple authorities, and often these authorities have varying imperatives or competing priorities.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to describe how regulatory, professional, and accreditation standards apply to telephone triage practice.
Description:
This module explores nursing malpractice in telephone triage, recognition of common pitfalls, and clinical risk management strategies. To assert nursing malpractice/negligence in telephone triage, the four legal elements of duty, breach of duty, causation, and damage must all be proven. Avoiding the pitfalls described in this module will go a long way in minimizing risk associated with the practice of telephone triage. The clinical risk management strategies in telephone triage described in this module will ensure safe and prudent assessment, while also guiding the learner to remain vigilant to red flags that may appear.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to discuss how to minimize risk associated with the practice of telephone triage.
Description:
This module will explore considerations for designing a telephone triage program, along with advantages and disadvantages of various telephone triage staffing models, how access affects the telephone triage process and decision making, and the significance of call flow and its potential impact on telephone triage outcomes.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to describe how program design and implementation can impact access, call flow and staffing.
Description:
This module explores critical thinking and nursing judgment, competency in nursing practice, and the model of care delivery in telephone nursing practice. As you view the content in this module, critically assess your own practice and work setting. Some changes can be immediate, while other process improvement activities may take longer. While knowledge, experience, clinical competence, and knowledge of standards of care are essential to effective critical thinking, the role of attitude cannot be underestimated in the provision of care over the telephone.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to describe the roles of critical thinking and nursing judgment in telephone triage practice.
Description:
This module will explore the various elements that impact decision-making in telephone triage. Specifically, it will describe the three triage categories as emergent, urgent, and non-urgent presentations, as well as the clinical implications associated with different types of decision-making in uncertain conditions.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to identify decision-making strategies used in conditions of uncertainty.
Description:
This module will explore characteristics of the call, interviewing techniques, call flow and communication skills, and factors impacting compliance, connection, and communication.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to describe how the elements of communication impact the telephone triage process.
Description:
This module reinforces the importance of a thorough, systematic patient assessment as an essential element of an effective telephone triage encounter and the appropriate use of decision support tools and diagnostic thinking.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to identify the value of systematic assessment.
Description:
This module will discuss assessment considerations of high-risk clinical presentations, identify assessment imperatives for special populations, and recognize special circumstances and environmental factors.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to identify assessment clinical pearls to employ in telephone triage.
Description:
This module will examine clinical decision support tools, also known as protocols or algorithms, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to appropriately utilize decision support tools in telephone triage nursing.
Description:
This module will explore the importance of documentation and why it is critical to a telephone triage encounter. Documentation should paint the picture of the call and the outcome recommendations. It is crucial for the safety of the caller that care providers can access all necessary information for follow up as well as account for the nurse's standard of practice and standard of care.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to identify critical elements in successful documentation of telephone triage encounters.
Description:
This module will empower the nurse to recognize telephone triage as professional nursing practice, to communicate this understanding consistently and accurately to other members of the healthcare team, and to provide leadership in one’s own professional setting to facilitate safe and effective delivery of nursing care over the telephone.
Learning Outcome:
Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to share a common understanding of telephone triage as professional nursing practice.
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