How to hire a telephone triage nurse

How to hire a telephone triage nurse, step by step

Here's a step-by-step telephone triage nurse hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a telephone triage nurse job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new telephone triage nurse
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The telephone triage nurse hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   Hiring the perfect telephone triage nurse also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of telephone triage nurse salaries for various roles:

   Type of Telephone Triage Nurse	Description	Hourly rate
   Telephone Triage Nurse	Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.	$18-55
   Nurse Coordinator	A nurse coordinator is primarily in charge of overseeing all nurses and their activities in a hospital or clinic. Their responsibilities include managing and rotating schedules, assessing nurse performance, organizing nursing programs, and developing strategies to optimize procedures... Show more	$29-49
   Nurse Clinician	A nurse clinician is a health expert who provides care and assistance to patients in hospitals, clinics, or similar establishments. Among their responsibilities include preparing equipment and documents, administering medication, monitoring the patient's condition, maintaining charts, and regularly reporting to physicians... Show more	$23-42

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Telephone Triage
   • Patient Education
   • Patient Care
   • Home Health
   • Primary Care
   • Epic
   • Phone Calls
   • Assessment
   • HIPAA
   • BLS
   • Emergency Care
   • Urgent Care
   • Telephone Calls

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage chronic medical condition (s) such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and renal insufficiency.
   • Manage surgical recovery patients including vascular, ENT, GI urological and neurological cases, coronary bypass surgery patients.
   • See patients of all ages, suturing, splinting, prescribing medications, ordering labs, radiology tests, doing referrals.
   • Maintain patient charts and confidential files in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
   • Educate patients on diabetes management, adjust medication regimes and interpret laboratory data.
   • Provide telephone nursing assessment of injure workers and make treatment recommendations regarding appropriate level of care

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your telephone triage nurse job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A telephone triage nurse can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, telephone triage nurses' average salary in iowa is 55% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level telephone triage nurses 66% less than senior-level telephone triage nurses.
   • Certifications. A telephone triage nurse with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a telephone triage nurse's salary.

   Average telephone triage nurse salary

   $67,500yearly

   $32.45 hourly rate

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   Entry-level telephone triage nurse salary

   $39,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

4. Writing a telephone triage nurse job description

   A good telephone triage nurse job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a telephone triage nurse job description:

   Telephone triage nurse job description example

   Join the Cleveland Clinic team, where you will work alongside passionate caregivers and provide patient-first healthcare. Cleveland Clinic is recognized as the No. 4 hospital in the nation, according to the U.S. and World News Report. At Cleveland Clinic, you will work alongside passionate and dedicated caregivers, receive endless support and appreciation, and build a rewarding career with one of the most respected healthcare organizations in the world.
   
   As a Telephone Triage Registered Nurse-Team Lead, you will be responsible for providing 24/7 healthcare support to our patients. This role requires someone who can multitask and has excellent communication skills. A Telephone Triage RN must have experience caring for patients of all ages and medical conditions. An RN in this role should be familiar with navigating multiple systems to meet patient needs.
   The ideal candidate is someone who:
   
   -Is a team player.
   
   -Has excellent communication skills.
   
   -Can adapt to change.
   
   -Has an interest in growing leadership skills.
   
   -Can critically think and problem solve for patients' best interests.
   
   This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is looking to provide exceptional patient care while working remotely. Cleveland Clinic will assist you by providing tuition reimbursement and cross-training for professional development.
   
   Cleveland Clinic provides what matters most: career growth, delivering world-class care to our patients, continuous learning, exceptional benefits and working for an organization that offers many long-term career paths. Join us and experience a culture where opportunities to advance and the support to get there go hand in hand.HYBRID POSITIONThis position is a part-time position to work 3-8s, 3:00pm-11:30pm. Weekend and holiday rotation is every other. It is mostly remote but needs to come to the office for leadership meetings, orienting, or local power/internet outage. Telephonic triage experience of one year of more is required for this role. Responsibilities: Performs the duties of the Telephone Triage Nurse. Coordinates and resolves daily operational issues. Ensures compliance with regulatory standards and patient safety initiatives. Ensures adequate staffing on current and next shift and initiates on-call RN as needed, as well as contacts staff when additional staffing required due to call-offs or other scheduling needs. Communicates with Nurse on Call team during phone/computer outages as needed to coordinate the disaster recovery plan. Works closely with remote staff to problem-solve computer issues and determine the need for relocation to the home office or alternate location if problem will not be resolved in a timely manner. Facilitates orientation, teaching, coaching and mentoring of assigned employees. Assists in the preparation of the department specific education for patients and colleagues. Serves as a clinical resource for staff including RNs, LPNs, Medical Assistants, and the office coordinator as needed. Communicates with patients/callers and physicians requesting to speak with a supervisor using HEART service recovery skills, documenting call if appropriate, and escalating to manager when necessary. Participates in quality initiatives, process improvement and research activities to improve patient outcomes, patient experience, and patient safety. Shares on-call duties with administration team for managing operation needs as needed. Combination remote work (if applicable) and in-house work based on department needs. Other duties as assigned. Education: Graduate from an accredited school of nursing. BSN preferred. Certifications: Basic Life Support (BLS) through American Heart Association (AHA). Current State Registered Nurse (RN) license. Certification in nursing specialty preferred. Competencies: Requires critical thinking skills, decisive judgment and the ability to work with minimal supervision. Must be able to work in a stressful environment and take appropriate action. Professional behavior required, ability to focus on patient safety, teamwork, patient outcomes, patient experience and quality improvement. Work Experience: Telephone Triage experience required. Registered Nurse with 5 or more years of experience in a medical-surgical, primary care, pediatric, ED, or case management. Previous charge nurse or supervisory experience preferred. Physical Requirements: Ability to sit for long periods of time within a confined space. Requires full range of motion, manual and finger dexterity of eye hand coordination. Requires corrected vision and hearing to a normal range. Sedentary Work - Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally (Occasionally: activity or condition exists up to 1/3 of the time) and/or a negligible amount of force frequently (Frequently: activity or condition exists from 1/3 to 2/3 of the time) to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Personal Protective Equipment: Follows standard precautions using personal protective equipment as required.

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5. Post your job

   To find telephone triage nurses for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any telephone triage nurses they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level telephone triage nurses with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your telephone triage nurse job on Zippia to find and recruit telephone triage nurse candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with telephone triage nurse candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new telephone triage nurse

   Once you've selected the best telephone triage nurse candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new telephone triage nurse first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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