Principles of Telephone Triage for clinical staff

Aims:

The aim of this session is to provide underpinning knowledge and communication techniques for staff who undertake informal telephone triage (i.e clinician on call) responsibilities as part of their day to day role.

Outcomes:

Be able to describe their accountability in relation to triaging patients on the telephone
Be able to identify appropriate responses from a group of patients
Describe the importance of safety – netting and signposting
Understand the value of effective use of the SBAR tool
Describe the use of the National Early Warning Score 2 when communicating patient condition
Discuss barriers to communication and the benefits of using active listening to undertake an effective consultation