ONCOLOGY TELEPHONE TRIAGE EDUCATION: A MULTIMODAL APPROACH.

Significance & Background: Oncology nurses who triage patient telephone calls are integral to the successful management of patient care needs and care coordination. Initial and ongoing structured education in symptom management, available resources, and documentation is needed to ensure nurses recei...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Oncology Nursing Forum Vol. 53; no. 2; p. 178
Autores principales: Kohanski, Lisa, Ciacchi, Savannah, Musial, Amanda, Kolenic, Anne
Formato: Journal Article
Publicado: Oncology Nursing Society Mar2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Significance & Background: Oncology nurses who triage patient telephone calls are integral to the successful management of patient care needs and care coordination. Initial and ongoing structured education in symptom management, available resources, and documentation is needed to ensure nurses receive timely and consistent information to maintain knowledge and skill. Purpose: The purpose of this initiative is to provide nurses who triage oncology patient calls with courses to review use of Electron-ic Health Record (EHR) oncology triage protocols, patient assessment and symptom management, documentation expectations, and patient resources. Offering education in varied modalities at different time points can help support nurses' proficiency in managing patients by telephone. Interventions: The project consists of 3 education parts. The first session was an in-person workshop held in early 2024. The content for the workshop was created based on manager input and learning needs assessment results completed by 10 dedicated phone triage nurses in 2023. The 4-hour workshop allowed dedicated class time for presentations by members of the information technology and social work teams, along with specialized critical thinking exercises led by nurse educators. The second education session was a 45-minute virtual class to demonstrate use of EHR protocols and a case study review. This meeting was held 3 times in mid-2024 and intended for nurses that triage calls as part of their clinic care coordination role. The third piece was an interactive online module created in 2025 and assigned via the learning management system to all nurses that handle oncology patient calls. Content of the module included resources for EHR navigation and triage protocol use, links to nurse and patient resources, and 3 case scenarios in which the nursing process is applied to successfully progress through knowledge checks. Results: Verbal feedback related to all 3 offerings was positive, with nurses expressing a better understanding of tools and resources to guide patient care. While no written evaluations directly from the courses were collected, engagement survey scores from dedicated phone triage nurses improved from 65% in 2023 to 83% in 2024. Discussion: Prior to these offerings, no telephone triage specific courses were available to nurses in the cancer center. The nursing education team will continue to address the learning needs of nurses and utilize creative, multi- modal approaches to provide meaningful educational content to this specialized group of nurses.