Dear All,
A Triage System can work very effectively if well managed.
Our purpose in carrying it out from time to time? When waiting list is
in excess of six weeks.
Whom do we hope to reach? We contact people longest on the waiting
list.
The Method? We send out an appointment letter plus simmple
questionnaire inviting the patient to confirm that the given appointment
is suitable.
The questionnaire asks important questions in a easy-to-understand way.
The patient is requested to fill their answers in and to bring the
questionnaires with them to their first appointment. The latter aids
clarity and focuses the mind on problems experienced.
The patients are given 20 minute slots and these assessments purely
serve to identify whether:
1. The patient still requires intervention;
2. Are there alternatives which would be more appropriate for the
patient;
3. Is advice only needed?
4. Is the patient suitable for a "class-type" environment rather than
individual face-to-face contacts?
We have found the above approach very useful and it has positively
affected our waiting list - bringing long-standing (waiting!) patients
in for scrutiny.
With every good wish,
Christo. PT UK
In message <39 9C674C.15170.608016@localhost>, [log in to unmask] writes
>Kevin and AMVNewman
>
>Whilst agreeing with your clinical reasoning I do not think your
>response is practical. Most of us managers are not cheap skates
>and fight like hell for money when it is necessary. However, in
>England at least, many Health Authorities who buy the service
>have a financial deficit, many Hospital Trusts have a financial deficit
>and there is no money. When there is money there are no
>physiotherapists. There is a significant vacany factor in the NHS
>physio services, not because we can not pay but because there
>are no physio's to recruit. We therefore have to look at alternative
>solutions, even if they are not persfect.
>
>Remember, most "cheap skate managers" are therapists, and
>many are still clinicians.
>
>Simon Plummer
>
>On 17 Aug 2000, at 19:32, k.reese wrote:
>
>> Dear Jane
>>
>> I have worked in two hospitals where this has been done and was
>> universally disliked by the clinicians who implemented the system. The
>> managers loved them as for minimal outlay they made an apparant impact
>> on the wl's. The fun part of physio is the treating and assessments
>> should be hard and draining. My colleagues who have done these clinics
>> say they are expected to make snap decisions in often complex cases,
>> cubby hole and label patients and feel the environment is highly
>> pressured and unrewarding.
>>
>> So in the interests of retaining your staff and giving the patients a
>> good deal, tell the cheap skate managers to cough up the readies and
>> employ enough physios to do the job and stop clinicians altering
>> practice to bail them out. As many people are comparing we are a
>> fraction of the price of a consultant, but in outpatient clinics
>> perform the same function. if not better, in 40-92% of the caseload.
>> For the latter point references can follow if necessary.
>>
>> Regards Kevin Reese PT UK
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: jane miller <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: 17 August 2000 13:32
>> Subject: triage appointments
>>
>>
>> > Dear all,
>> > Our department is considering using a form of 15-20 minute pre
>> > assessment
>> in
>> > order to decrease and prioritise waiting list patients prior to a
>> > 1st assessment appointment (like a triage assessment) Has anybody
>> > much experience of this idea? We would be extremely grateful for any
>> > ideas or teething problems other departments have experienced
>> > setting up such a system many thanks Jane Miller Physiotherapist
>> > ____________________________________________________________________
>> > ____ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
>> > http://www.hotmail.com
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
--
Christo Thiardt
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