Telephone Triage

The Marino Center has instituted a new service designed to provide our patients with a more immediate response to health issues that may spring up along the way. From nagging sore throats to muscle pain, to conjunctivitis and everything in between, Telephone Triage is now offered as a first response to your needs.

Through telephone triage, Registered Nurses - at both the Cambridge and Wellesley Centers – are available during the Centers' regular hours for call-in support and scheduling for tests and acute care appointments targeted to the specific issue at hand. For example, often we can schedule any necessary tests, such as a throat culture, prior to the patient's appointment so the practitioner already has the results in hand when the patients see the doctor.

Once the nurse has spoken to a patient, his/her practitioner is informed of the issue and follow up is ensured through phone support or, if necessary, through scheduling tests and an appointment – usually within 24 hours.

When calling Telephone Triage, it is helpful if you are prepared to answer the following questions:

• What are your symptoms?
• How long have you been experiencing these symptoms?
• What, if any, treatments have you already tried?
• What medications, including over the counter, are you currently taking?
• Do you have any known allergies to medications?

If you are scheduled for an acute care appointment or tests through Telephone Triage:

• Please be on time – your appointment/tests have been added to the schedule and therefore timeliness is crucial to be most effective. 
• Remember, this appointment has been made available in response to a specific health concern, so please concentrate on that and schedule a future appointment for other/regular health issues.  

You can access Telephone Triage by calling your Center’s main number and pressing “3.”