What is a Triage Nurse, and What are Their Roles and Responsibilities

Last year, employers in the USA’s private industry reported close to 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses, 8.4% less than what was reported in 2022. While this is positive news, there is no denying that workplace injuries cannot be avoided completely, especially if you operate in a heavy industry.

However, sending affected workers to hospitals or clinics even for minor strains, cuts, burns, or bruises can be expensive and drive up workers’ compensation costs significantly. Moreover, as an employer trying to maintain business repute, you don’t want to attract penalties from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) through a spike in recordables. In such scenarios, a nurse triage service can help you in more ways than one. Let’s dive deeper into this.

Understanding Triage Nursing

brown rotary dial telephone in gray painted room

As someone running a heavy industry company, you already know that most factories are situated in far-flung areas. This means if an employee meets with an injury, taking them to the nearest emergency room (ER) can be time-consuming and delay treatment. A remote nurse triage system can help immensely as trained and knowledgeable nursing professionals can assess the patient’s situation from afar and suggest the next steps via telephone or video calls. Triage nurses evaluate the urgency of the situation, advise accordingly, and provide basic care instructions if required.

What Do Triage Nurses Do?

person sitting while using laptop computer and green stethoscope near

What is a triage nurse? They are healthcare professionals who adhere to the Gold-Standard Schmitt-Thompson Protocols and aid injured workers or their supervisors in deciding whether the problem can be managed at work, needs a consultation with a doctor, or requires a visit to the ER. The nurses ask patients specific questions per a checklist to determine the severity of symptoms. So, when it comes to a triage nurse, daily responsibilities include

Collating Basic Data: At first, triage nurses note the patient’s name, age, injury-related symptoms, and details of any relevant health problems.
Assessing the Patient’s Condition: Nurses probe into the patient’s medical history and ask more questions about vital signs and symptoms. This helps them gauge the injury’s severity and decide on the urgency of care required.
Documenting Findings: In a nurse triage system, documentation of the entire conversation with the patient is crucial to prevent future misunderstandings, disputes, and litigations. Nurses also document all the information to ensure the injured worker receives the proper treatment at the right place and everyone involved is on the same page.
Offering Recommendations: Based on the details accrued and their assessment, triage nurses outline the next steps. They tell the patient if the injury can be treated at the workplace or requires emergency care. In case of a minor injury, triage nurses might provide instructions on first aid, like elevating the limbs, applying ice packs, or taking an over-the-counter medicine for pain.
Scheduling Appointments: If the nurse feels that the injury is not minor or needs in-person examination, they will refer patients to relevant specialists who handle occupational health issues. Triage nurses also pass on all the details collected to ensure treatment continuity and avoid information gaps. They facilitate a collaborative experience by acting as a bridge between patients and doctors.
Educating Patients: In a nurse triage system, healthcare professionals can explain necessary procedures or therapies to injured employees and address any queries or doubts. They also offer emotional support so the patient feels heard and cared for.
Following up: Nurses often schedule follow-up calls to track a patient’s condition. They note any worsening or lingering symptoms and offer further suggestions accordingly.

Now that you are aware of a triage nurse’s daily responsibilities, let’s take a step forward and see how a doctor triage service can be a better alternative for handling workplace injuries.

Consider Doctor Triage for More Benefits

In doctor triage, a medical practitioner and specialist assess patients remotely to better evaluate their condition. Similar to nurse triage, doctor triage aims to identify conditions during remote assessments.

Compared to nurse triage, doctor triage services are more effective as licensed physicians attend emergency calls, provide proper diagnoses, tailor treatment plans, and prescribe medications. Nursing professionals, however, can only share first aid tips or recommend the injured worker to a doctor. Hence, availing doctor triage services means more benefits:

Prompt Treatment: Certified doctors assess the injured worker’s condition promptly, identify the root problem, and suggest the best line of treatment irrespective of geographical limitations. The patient does not need to travel to a hospital, wait for medical aid to arrive, or talk to a nurse first and get referred to a doctor. Also, since many non-emergency injuries get handled immediately this way, employees feel at peace, recover fast, and are satisfied with your support.
Reduced ER Trips: Like triage nurses, triage doctors prevent minor injuries from escalating into something major by assessing the situation correctly and providing a plan of action to tackle the symptoms. They also suggest necessary medicines or therapies. This means no need to take every affected worker to the ER and rack up unnecessary expenses.
Faster Resumption of Work: With doctor triage services, the treatment is quick and recovery smooth, which means the employee gets back to work soon. As an employer, you must deal with minimal interruptions and less downtime.
Reduced Workers’ Compensation Cost: When injured workers receive immediate medical attention, the proper treatment, and necessary support, they are less likely to file compensation claims. The compensation cost also decreases when such employees don’t have to take extended leaves or settle for transfers or restricted duties. This means increased profitability for your company and a more robust bottom line.

Conclusion

Overall, triage nursing can help an injured employee at your worksite receive the necessary medical attention on time and from trained medical professionals. However, doctor triage services can benefit you further as licensed MDs can diagnose the problem accurately, prescribe medications, and chart out the perfect course of treatment more effectively. In the process, you save on unnecessary ER expenses, and employees resume work at the earliest.

Hence, it is a wiser move to choose doctor triage over nurse triage. Workers’ compensation costs can be controlled and minimized more easily that way. You can also keep your Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate low, improve employee productivity and satisfaction, and comply closely with OSHA regulations.

Choose WorkPartners for Doctor Triage and Promote Workplace Safety

We at WorkPartners are a step ahead of triage nursing with our doctor triage services. This means you can make informed decisions if an employee gets injured. We are familiar with OSHA guidelines and understand the importance of low recordable instances. With our doctor triage assistance, you can get workers immediate medical attention and treatment so that they feel reassured and have faith in you as an employer. The best part is that you can reach us around the clock in case of emergencies and consult us for better safety infrastructure and policies.

So, no matter your workplace safety concern, feel free to contact us. We can be reached at (800) 359-5020 for injury intervention and (651) 323-8654 for other questions. You can also email us at info@workpartnersusa.com.