Benefits of Telephone Triage for Businesses
Did you know that in 1972, the U.S. witnessed 10.9 incidents of injuries and ailments for every 100 workers on average? However, with more and more employers taking workplace safety seriously and complying with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, the figure came down to 2.4 in 2023. As a heavy-industry employer, that doesn’t mean you can let down your guard. Apart from following the latest safety protocols closely at your factory or worksite, you must avail of doctor-led telephone triage services if a worker meets with an accident and requires immediate medical attention.
Whether you are unfamiliar with the term or looking to understand medical triage services better, this write-up will come in handy.
What is Telephone Triage for Businesses?
As someone operating in mining, construction, or any other industry that involves high-risk environments, machines, and tools, you know how injuries are not always predictable, even if you practice utmost safety. And since your worksite is most likely to be in a remote location, transporting injured workers to a far-off hospital or waiting for an ambulance to arrive can mean undesired delays. This is when doctor telephone triage services come in handy.
In other words, you can directly contact an experienced occupational health physician who will assess the injury by asking relevant questions and determining its type and severity. They will suggest the best course of treatment and whether the patient needs an emergency room (ER) visit, or the injury can be treated with first aid onsite.
What Are the Advantages of Doctor-Led Telephone Triage?
Healthcare triage systems led by licensed MDs can benefit heavy-industry businesses in multiple ways, from ensuring OSHA compliance to improving business continuity and elevating brand reputation. Read on to understand the advantages better:
1. Prompt Medical Attention
No matter how far your worksite is from urban conveniences, you can easily connect the injured worker with a triage doctor over the phone right after an incident. Available 24/7, such doctors will ask the right questions, understand the patient’s injury, symptoms, and medical history, and diagnose the problem accurately. They will then suggest the medications, therapies, or other treatments required for the case. This means the worker’s condition won’t worsen due to delays.
2. Lower OSHA Recordable Rate
Not availing of telephone triage services often means sending an injured employee to the ER, whether necessary or not. And this can drive up your OSHA recordable rate for no reason and also attract penalties. However, when you connect with a triage physician, they can advise whether the patient needs to visit the ER or whether the matter can be addressed onsite. This can often keep the number of OSHA recordable incidents low.
3. Increased Employee Satisfaction
One of the top telephone triage benefits is that the occupational health physicians don’t just take care of the physical injury of the worker, but also handle their queries and concerns, thereby offering mental support and alleviating anxiety. Immediately, medical attention makes your employees feel seen, heard, and valued. This boosts their satisfaction with the job and your business and makes them less likely to file compensation claims or legal suits.
4. Reduced Healthcare Cost
Since a doctor-led telephone triage helps you lower the instances of ER visits, you have to shell out less money towards unnecessary treatment. After all, many minor injuries, like burns, cuts, sprains, and scrapes, can be treated efficiently with just first aid. Moreover, prompt treatment means injured workers recover fast and need less time off from work, which translates to fewer compensation claims.
5. Fewer Business Disruptions
As mentioned before, opting for medical triage services means injured employees receive timely and appropriate treatment. Triage doctors also monitor the recovery process and tweak the treatment plan if required so workers can resume their usual duties quickly. In other words, they don’t need too many extended or unplanned leaves and promptly become as productive as before. This means fewer operational interruptions for you and better business continuity.
6. Better Retention and Acquisition of Talent
Availing doctor telephone triage services shows your employees that you care for their health, safety, and well-being. This gives them peace of mind, and they engage better with their tasks than they would when looking for other jobs. So, you get to retain the best workers and boost your reputation as an employer as well. That’s not all. Acquiring new and top-quality talent also becomes more manageable.
Does Telephone Triage Have Any Disadvantages?
Since remote healthcare triage systems are generally based on telephonic or video conversations and not face-to-face interactions, you might be worried about the incorrect diagnosis of a worker’s injury. However, when you go for reliable, reputed services led by knowledgeable and experienced doctors, there is no scope for erroneous assessments or wrong treatments. Such physicians are adept at handling various simple to complex occupational health problems and suggest customized, effective treatment plans for every injury or ailment.
Conclusion
Doctor telephone triage benefits include everything from immediate medical aid, greater employee satisfaction, and better OSHA compliance to lower healthcare and worker compensation costs, improved business continuity, and easier talent retention and acquisition. Running a business in any heavy industry is not without risks, no matter how conscious you are about safety. So, a smart––– plan of action in emergencies is a must.
With doctor-led phone triage services, you can prevent worker injuries and illnesses from aggravating, minimize the Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate, and boost workplace efficiency and productivity.
Keep Your Workers and Business Safe with WorkPartners’ Doctor Triage
At WorkPartners, we have an in-depth understanding of OSHA regulations and the need for workplace safety, as demonstrated by our unique doctor-led triage services. Our doctors believe in improving customer satisfaction with telephone triage and leveraging video interactions to better understand the patient’s condition and diagnose and treat the injury effectively.
By providing medical phone triage in St Paul, MN, we help you enhance your business reputation, minimize costs, improve operational continuity, and become more profitable.
Contact us today to learn more about making your workplace safer and preventing common emergencies. We are easy to reach at (800) 359-5020 for early injury intervention, and if you have other concerns, call us at (651) 323-8654.
