Many industrial companies rely on their nursing hotline to handle all their worker injuries. It's an easy way for employees to reach out to a healthcare professional for the aches, pains, sprains and strains they're feeling from the overexertion and repetitive motion that they experience from their jobs.
But is a nurse hotline a fair and correct way to help them?
Let's dig in...
One
Most calls to the hotline end with the nurse instructing the worker to visit a medical facility (offsite clinics,ERs, doctors, etc.) According to a recent Healthdialog survey, 69% of patients with pre-intent to visit the emergency room or call 911 were appropriately redirected to a less emergent level of care like urgent care or primary care physicians.
Two
Nursing professionals are trained in a wide variety of medical issues but are usually not specialized in the musculoskeletal issues — those sprains, strains, aches and pains — that affect most industrial workers. They are highly competent at their jobs but this is the reason why most of their phone calls lead to recommendations to visit a doctor or a clinic.
Three
Most interactions with nurse hotlines involve phone calls, where the nurses are unable to see the workers and view any specific injuries or the movements that caused them. This leads to a lot of time spent on asking questions only to have the worker sent off for further care — which breaks OSHA first aid and creates recordables and costly claims.
Besides those claims and recordables being created, which can increase your insurance premiums, you're also being unfair to your employees.
How?
When your workers are recommended to a doctor or urgent care, they are spending $300 per year of their own money plus the time away from the job and time required to make those visits.
An average 20-minute doctor’s appointment takes approximately 2 hours due to wait time, paperwork, and communicating with non-medical staff, plus travel time to and from their workplace or home. Then, they usually have co-pays or out of pocket expenses.
When is comes to treating those musculoskeletal injuries, most doctors and urgent care providers recommend visits to the physical therapy, which takes even more time and money.
It's no wonder employees are looking around at your competitors for better benefits
37% of employees chose healthcare as the most important benefit when thinking of switching jobs or staying at a job. 76% rank healthcare in their top 3 priorities when considering workplace benefits.
Companies need a filter for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), the leading cause of workplace injuries, as a first line of defense against unnecessary ER visits and costly claims and recordables.
For companies looking to reduce unnecessary worker medical consultations, as well as prevent MSDs, reduce lost work time, and boost productivity, Healthy Roster is the best choice.
We provide:
24/7 access to licensed workplace athletic trainers who assess injuries to provide guidance on treatment and self-care.
Additionally - provide access to ongoing services like:
- Jobsite analysis
- Ergonomics & human performance evaluations
- Expansion and updates to personalized stretch & flex programs
- Safety team support for every employee, during every shift, at every location
And we provide coverage with an onsite, walk-up kiosk, mobile apps, and a hotline for video calls, texts, and phone coverage. They'll even get email and video chat support for additional treatments and recommendations. All of which is way more in-depth than a nurse hotline.
Workers speak directly with an ergonomic and MSD specialist, trained in OSHA first aid, who can triage work injuries and advise on returning to work or seeking further care for serious injuries. And our MSD experts can follow-up, provide additional advice, and prevent minor injuries from becoming worse.
Talk to Healthy Roster today to find out how you can do more for your workers, avoid claims, and eliminate those unneeded trips to the ER, urgent care, or their doctor!
