Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, in collaboration with American Medical Response (AMR), has launched the Knox County Nurse Navigation program.
Nurse Navigation will provide county residents and visitors greater access to a wider variety of care options. This should result in reducing costs and emergency room crowding, free up emergency response personnel to address life-threatening situations, and improving overall patient outcomes regardless of severity.
The program works by routing less emergent 9-1-1 calls to a Tennessee-licensed nurse who can assess the caller’s symptoms before facilitating the most appropriate steps for continuation of care. Care options can range from a virtual physician or nurse consultation to receiving instructions to administer self-care and the arrangement of transport to a local clinic, urgent care center, or hospital.
“This is an innovative solution to a common problem that has produced positive results in other areas,” said Mayor Jacobs.
“We are proud of our long-term partnership with Knox County,” said Joshua Spencer, Southeast Regional Director of AMR. “We hope that this program will go a long way toward ensuring people get the right type of care at the right time.”
For more information on Nurse Navigation, please visit the website.
