Parish Nurse Information Line

PARISH NURSE INFORMATION LINE
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The Parish Nurse Information Line (1-888-551-4646) is a toll-free, telephone based healthcare information and advisory service that helps Parish Nurses access timely, up-to-date general health and symptom based information. This service will assist your parishioners to make informed decisions about their health and medical care. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to all Parish Nurses ministering in the State of Montana and is being sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Kansas Parish Nurse Grant through Health Access Call Center at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Montana.

This service is staffed by thirty-five registered nurses and six resource specialists who have been specially trained in telephone assessment and communication skills. The first time you call you will be asked your name, mailing address, telephone number and birthdate. This information is necessary to establish a legal medical record, required by the sponsoring organization. All records are confidential. This service utilizes a Digital Telephone System where all callers are placed into an Automated Call Distribution queue to wait for the next available attendant. A networked computer system is used to access information and to document each call.

Call Center personnel have access to 1200 general health information topics, which are also available on Health Information Library audio tapes, and symptom assessment guidance through the use of the "Clinical Assessment and Education Guideline" system. Also through this service you will also have access to a national service database with state and national information numbers. All information is referenced and documented. Total quality management is central to the structure of this service. Call Center personnel are reviewed through actual call performance critique, written documentation, peer review and selected call review by Deniz Tek MD, Medical Director Health Access Call Center, Emergency Department and Help Flight Program at St. Vincent Healthcare.

The goal of the Parish Nurse Information Line is to provide the highest quality clinical and technical health information systems that assist Parish Nurses in educating their parishioners about health matters. These may range from basic questions to sophisticated, complex requests for treatment and procedure information. The development process of the guidelines was an extensive, multi-disciplinary approach. The development team was led by Dr. Robert Derlet, Chief of Emergency Medicine and Toxicology at the University of California at Davis Medical Center. Dr. Derlet is board certified in Internal and Emergency Medicine.

For more information, or ideas on how to better serve you, please call Joan L. Schaaf, RN, at (406) 238-6766.