Triaging symptom calls with and without practice guides: A case exemplar.

Area of Science:

• Oncology Nursing
• Telephone Triage
• Symptom Management

Background:

• Ambulatory oncology programs rely on telephone-based nursing services for patient support.
• Quality of telephone consultations can vary, impacting patient care and outcomes.
• Standardized tools are needed to ensure consistent and effective nursing assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the utility of the COSTaRS symptom practice guides in enhancing telephone-based nursing services.
• To illustrate improved patient assessment and management through standardized guide utilization.

Main Methods:

• A case exemplar based on an audit of 299 ambulatory oncology patient records.
• Detailed description of phone calls between a metastatic colon cancer patient and registered nurses (RNs).
• Comparison of nursing interventions: standard advice versus guided assessment using COSTaRS.

Main Results:

• Initial RN consultations for nausea and vomiting lacked documented assessment.
• The third RN utilized a COSTaRS symptom guide for comprehensive assessment.
• Guided assessment included medication review and self-management strategies discussion.

Conclusions:

• The COSTaRS symptom practice guides enhance the quality of telephone-based nursing care.
• Standardized guides promote thorough patient assessment and effective symptom management strategies.
• Implementation of COSTaRS can improve consistency and quality in oncology telephone triage.