CHICAGO, IL – In a stunning announcement today, leadership at the Association for Telephonic Nurse Advisors reported that effective June 1st their flagship “Nurse Advice Line” would be renamed the “Go to ER” line.
“We figured it will be more efficient and best capture the spirit of our organization to rename the line the ‘Go to ER’ Line,” reported Linda Halls, RN, BSN, TRN, ASPCA-C, TLC, BFF, the line’s chief medical officer. “Too often we found that patients would use the line and end up not going to the Emergency Room. We hope the lines new name will eliminate any ambiguity and lead to all patient’s promptly going to the ER.”
The organization also announced sweeping changes to line staffing. From now on, all calls to Nursing Advice Lines will be answered with a continuous recording of “Go to the ER” being played.
“Before, we found that having nurses actually staff the lines lead to a lot of wasted time in which the nurse asked what was going on, listening to the response, then telling the patient to go to the ER. By having a simple recording on constantly, all patient’s will immediately hear our life saving message.”
Many patients are excited about the change. Gary Thorne, a retired steel worker from Pittsburgh, says the change will help address his medical needs. “I remember just last week after eating two burritos and drinking 4 beers I had a burning sensation in my chest. My doctor tells me its reflux. Thankfully I called the line for more input. If I had not called the Nursing Advice Line, I may have never gone to the ER for further assessment.” He added later: “In the future, I’ll know to ‘Go to the ER’ right away.”
“Its a tough job,” Linda Halls concluded. “But someone needs to be there to tell the patients to go to the ER.”
