When patients are experiencing symptoms, their symptoms can be related to an acute or chronic condition. This can be a deciding factor in how the call is handled and SymptomScreen pre-screening questions can assist in moving stable, chronic calls to a lower priority (acuity) level.
In the example below, without pre-screening questions someone with chronic leg pain might always wind up at a higher priority (in this case the Yellow 1 Hour priority) because they answer yes to “severe pain now”, even though they always have severe pain now. This could mean that every time the patient calls, he or she is scheduled for an urgent appointment or put into an urgent callback queue from a nurse or provider, both of which are limited, higher cost resources for the organization and potentially the patient.
Pre-Screening to a Lower Priority
Now let’s take that same patient and apply pre-screening questions. In this example, the organization is using the “Previously Seen” template for pre-screening. The patient is asked two questions: (1) Have you been seen for this already? and (2) Is it getting worse? If the patient answers Yes to question 1 and No to question 2, meaning they’ve already been seen for this symptom and it is not getting worse, SymptomScreen will bypass the guide-based screening questions and assign a designated lower priority.
How to Select a Pre-Screening Template
In SymptomScreen Admin, you can now choose from three standard options for pre-screening. You can use one of the standard options as is, you can optionally edit the questions in the standard options, or you can even create a custom set of pre-screening questions for your organization’s specific needs. Standard options include:
Previously Seen
- Have you been seen for this already?
- Is it getting worse?
Duration
- Is this symptom new within the past 30 days?
- Is it getting worse?
Duration and Previously Seen
- Is this symptom new within the past 30 days?
- Have you been seen for this already?
- Is it getting worse?
To edit the questions in one of the standard options, select the desired standard option and click on the Edit button next to the option you have selected. You will then be able to edit the text of the questions and the priority assigned to the stable chronic call.
You also have the option of creating a totally custom set of pre-screening options. These might include eligibility for your organization’s services, whether the symptom is work-related, or age questions for age-related eligibility or special handling. Just contact SymptomScreen Support to have us set up your custom pre-screening questions.
For more information about how to change your pre-screening settings, please see the Pre-Screening section of the SymptomScreen Admin Manual. Overall, pre-screening questions can be a powerful tool for efficiently screening your callers and getting them to the appropriate next step in their care. We hope you find them valuable!