Question

The telephone triage nurse is alone when the phone rings on all three lines. What would be the most appropriate action for the nurse to take wen prioritizing these patients.

A. The nurse should answer each call quickly, asking what the complaint is and then placing the client on hold to get next line, mentally taking a priority list
B. Ignore the other two lines while triaging one line at a time
C. Leave and go find some help
D. There is no way to answer efficiently

Answer 1

The most appropriate action for a telephone triage nurse when prioritizing patients is to quickly answer each call, gather information about the complaint, and assess the urgency of each call to prioritize patients accordingly.

Step-by-step explanation:

When prioritizing patients as a telephone triage nurse, the most appropriate action would be to answer each call quickly and gather information about the complaint. However, it is not recommended to place the client on hold to answer the next line, as this may cause delays and dissatisfaction for the patients. Instead, the nurse should assess the urgency of each call based on the information provided and prioritize the patients accordingly. For example, if one patient is experiencing severe chest pain while another has a minor cut, the nurse should prioritize the patient with severe chest pain and provide immediate assistance. It is important for the nurse to handle all calls in a timely manner, but also ensure that urgent and critical cases are given the highest priority.