Nurse Triage program to end March 31

Posted On: February 24, 2023

The Volusia County Emergency Medical Services Nurse Triage program will end at 7 p.m. March 31.

The program started in December 2019 to divert non-emergency, non-critical 911 calls to an on-duty registered nurse to determine if an alternate form of non-emergency medical care is appropriate. The goal was to minimize unnecessary fire department and emergency medical service dispatches to maximize available resources for critical, life-threatening emergencies. In 2019, there were less than 10 known similar programs in the nation, and Volusia County was the first in Florida to pilot the program.

After a review of the program’s data, it was determined that the majority of callers referred to the nurse triage were still transported by ambulance to an emergency room. One of the program’s barriers was the inability to accept patients into alternative care sites, such as urgent care or community health clinic.

Emergency Services Director Jim Judge said of the program’s closure: “We believe in finding innovative solutions to serve our residents better and reduce costs where applicable. In theory, the program’s design made perfect sense to reserve our community’s medical resources for those in emergency medical situations. Unfortunately, the data isn’t there to substantiate keeping the program, so we’re going to divert these funds into other areas to keep our residents safe.”