Clinical Call Center of the Future:

In a recent article in Healthcare Call Center Times entitled “Thoughts from a Telephone Triage Pioneer”, Sheila Wheeler shared her vision of the future of telehealth with a list of features for the clinical call center of the future.

• New Title
  • Telephone Triage Nurse becomes Clinical Triagist
• Integrated Clinical Call Centers
  • The 24/7 “Command Call Center” becomes the new standard
  • Clinician-staffed, symptom-based calls
  • Integrated:  Telephone Triage, Poison Center, Suicide Prevention, 911, Other
  • Mega-Call Centers outsource to Emergency Departments, Urgent Care, MD Answering service es
  • Clerical staff manage secondary lines for Refills, Administrative, Class Registration, Physician Referral

• Care for caregiver
  • Shorter work days and weeks
    • Shift length  6 hours to Prevent Decision Fatigue
  • Clinician Autonomy
    • Second-Tier triage becomes obsolete
    • Clinicians are first and last point of contact with patients
  • Work Variety
    • Combined Role Clinical Infiornaticist & Patient educator:  New parent classes,  diabetes, smoking cessation, weight loss, etc. Patient education using web-based technologies
• Ergonomic work station
  • Automatic soft transfer capability
  • Wireless, high quality headset
  • Sit/stand desk (“sitting is the new smoking”)
  • Computer Monitors:  Extra large to enhance document & patient visualization/ monitoring

• Acoustics & Aesthetics
  • Sound abatement technology
  • High-Quality Background music
  • Separate Telehealth Unit, Darkeded, quiet, aesthetic
  • De-cluttering, Photos of nature

• Training Programs
  • Critical thinking
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Decisionmaking skills,  coping with ambiguity
  • Assessment skills review: High risk Populations, Neuro, Cardiac, Respiratory, etc
  • Risk Management
  • Telehealth integration for transitioning to newer technologies
  • Stress management skills
• Future of the Future: Telehealth and Beyond
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Clinical Triagists: home based
  • Biotelemetry
  • Medical Skype
  • Medical Phone Applications

Ms. Wheeler has published articles in the past about the future of telephone triage.  Let us know your thoughts about this vision or your own vision.  Thirty years ago, clinical decision support systems did not exist for telephone triage.  What do you believe the future holds for this industry?

Written by Sheila Wheeler (16 Posts)

SHEILA WHEELER, RN, MS, is acknowledged as an international expert in the field of telephone triage. She has practiced nursing for over 30 years, primarily in critical care, emergency department and clinic settings. An accomplished writer, educator, researcher and consultant, Ms. Wheeler is currently President of TeleTriage Systems in San Anselmo, California.