24/7 Access to Certified Clinical Nurses

The UH Rainbow Advice Center’s nurses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays and weekends. We employ certified clinical nurses who have completed a comprehensive six-month training program on telephone nurse triage. These nurses utilize the nationally recognized Schmitt Thompson Clinical Content After-Hours Computerized Telephone Guidelines, which are updated annually.

The UH Rainbow Advice Center provides both first-level and second-level triage:

• First-level triage is nurse triage and advice with nurses managing the call disposition per the triage guidelines.
• Second-level triage allows the nurses to contact the physician, via either pager or cell phone, with the patient’s details, so the physician can then call the patient and perform an independent assessment of the best way to manage the child.

Emergency and Urgent Care Referrals

The UH Rainbow Advice Center has a referral rate to the emergency department of 17 percent, which is in line with national industry standards.

Patients are referred to an emergency department if they identify key clinical terms supported by the Schmitt Thompson guideline that indicate immediate evaluation.

At the completion of every patient call, our software automatically sends a report to the physician office. The report contains:

• Demographic information
• Reason for call
• Nurse’s assessment
• Guideline used
• Reason for selected outcome
• Care advice given

Physicians are charged per nurse triage call, with a fee determined by the hours of coverage and practice location.