Office Hours
The Leading Resource for Telehealth Triage Nurses
A trusted decision support tool for nurses, backed by evidence-based clinical expertise.
Supporting Nurses, Ensuring Safe Office Hours Patient Care
Telephone triage nurses are often the first clinical point of contact for patients when the office is open. Their primary aim is to ensure consistent and safe triage, directing patients to the appropriate office appointment or level of care. Even the most experienced nurses encounter challenging calls. In these moments, nursing judgment and reliable protocols are essential to patient safety and timely care .
Office hours protocols provide a standardized, evidence-based framework that supports consistent triage, accurate dispositions, and clear communication with families.
Why Office Hours
Protocols Matter
Office Hours (OH) telephone triage protocols are evidence-based decision-support tools designed to guide telehealth nurses who manage calls during office hours. Office hours are defined as the daytime hours when the medical office or clinic is open for scheduled appointments. That is commonly 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays. Some offices also see patients on Saturdays.
Combined with access to the medical chart, OH protocols support continuity of care and the medical home.
Since the office is open, OH triage is designed to minimize unnecessary emergency department (ED) referrals and to get as many sick patients as possible seen in the office. The OH protocol dispositions also use the fact that when the office is open, providers are available. The triager usually can easily and quickly consult the doctor for any difficult triage decisions.
Office hours protocols are not written for nor will they work for the triage of after hours calls.
Office Hours Protocols: Content at a Glance
- 262 topics that cover almost all symptoms and reasons for office calls.
- Evidence-based, tested, and safe.
- Clinical content updated annually.
- New protocols developed rapidly to address any disease outbreaks.
- Standardized format and approach to triage, scheduling appointments, and care advice.
- Triage checklist is logical and easy to understand.
- Care advice is written in plain language to support parent education.
- Annual Office Hours User’s Guide helps nurse managers improve team process and performance.
Core Benefits of Office Hours Protocols
For Telehealth Nurses
- Combine nursing experience and clinical judgment with evidence-based protocols to consistently get the right patient to the right resource at the right time.
- Use built-in nurse education and triage tips to improve telehealth skills.
- Send care advice handouts to patients to improve compliance. Support the nurse’s key role as a health educator.
- Comply with AAACN telehealth recommendation for triage nurses to use a decision support system.
For Doctors and Other Providers
- Standardize nurse triage using evidence-based, expert-reviewed protocols to ensure every call is managed consistently and safely.
- Safely delegate office-hours calls to trained nurses, reducing interruptions to providers seeing patients.
- Provide a consensus tool for doctors within an office or across a healthcare system regarding how telehealth care will be delivered.
- Avoid unnecessary ED visits by routing patients who need urgent care to office setting when office policy supports.
Evidence Behind the
Office Hours Protocols
- All Office Hours Protocols are derived from matching After Hours Protocols.
- The After Hours Protocols are built on decades of clinical experience, evidence-based research, and continuous quality improvement. Learn more about the evidence behind them and how they are kept up-to-date.
- All Office Hours Protocols are written and reviewed by our pediatric editorial team.
- In addition, the Office Hours Protocols have a panel of office-based pediatricians in both Denver and St. Louis that provides real-world feedback about office call processes and needs.
Healthcare Impact of Our Nurse Triage Protocols
Our After Hours and Office Hours Protocols have been the key decision support tool for nurse triage across North America for more than 30 years.
- 25+ million telehealth calls annually
- Used by 400+ call centers
- Adopted by 40+ children’s hospitals, 80+ medical center call centers, and 8 Canadian provinces
- Reviewed, tested, validated, and adopted by leading healthcare organizations across the U.S. and Canada.
- A trusted standard of care for nurse telephone triage and advice.
- Office Hours Protocols in software or book format are used by most pediatric offices in the US.
- The 18th edition of the book version of many of these protocols is published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Indexes for OH Protocols
Samples of OH Protocols
Adult Office Hours Protocols
for Full Age Range Clinics
While we provide the leading pediatric nurse triage protocols, many of the organizations using our Triage Protocols take calls for adult as well as pediatric patients. That’s why we work closely with our partner organization Thompson Adult Guidelines, led by Dr. David Thompson. They provide gold standard nurse triage protocols for the symptoms and health problems experienced by adults of all ages. Research and feedback is shared between our editorial teams. All of our triage protocols are licensed through our combined marketing partner Schmitt-Thompson Clinical Content (STCC).
Options for Using the Office Hours Triage Protocols
Triage
Software
Our protocols are a core component in leading nurse triage software systems, allowing you to take triage calls with your own telephone triage nurses.
Triage
Call Services
Our protocols are the decision support tool powering leading nurse triage call services, allowing you to outsource your patient’s triage calls to another company’s nurses.
Build Your Own
Software
License our protocols in database format to build your own decision support software. License from our exclusive partner Schmitt-Thompson Clinical Content (STCC).