After nursing school, when I began my first job in a primary care clinic, I had no idea what to expect. Very little of my nursing school curriculum covered the ambulatory setting; instead, it had focused on skills and knowledge to care for patients in the hospital. I wondered what kind of impact I could have on patients with whom I would interact with only over the phone.
Loneliness Pouring Through the Phone
Telephone triage was a steep learning curve for me as a new grad nurse, but I quickly came to see how God works through this often-overlooked nursing specialty. One patient I met shortly after my orientation was a woman who called the clinic at least weekly after her hospitalization due to her depression. She was a widow, lived alone, and was enduring a four-month wait to see a psychiatrist. Every time I spoke to her, her loneliness poured over the phone in words like, “I am just waiting for the Lord to take me,” “I wish I could have gone with my husband,” and “I talk to Jesus every day because no one else can help me.”
During one of our conversations, I reassured her that Jesus was with her—he was a valuable source of hope, and her healthcare team also cared for her and was always available for her to reach out to. Another time, when I told her I was praying for her, she responded, “Oh, please do! I know Jesus hears our prayers.”
At the end of one call, she wished me a safe drive home during a storm. Tears come to my eyes as I remember her now, and I’m so grateful for the way that our shared faith offered me a unique way to speak into her aloneness, to comfort her as she waited for the treatment she needed.
Advocating for the Defeated
A source of blessing for every nurse is the wisdom of nurses with more experience, and I’m grateful to have this through my mother-in-law. She works as a telephone triage nurse in a family practice clinic, caring for patients throughout the lifespan, from anxious parents with new babies to grieving adult children caring for declining parents. One such patient was a woman suffering from insomnia. The provider who had seen the patient referred her for a sleep study, but the patient knew that wasn’t what she needed. She felt defeated and hopeless and was desperate to be able to rest better. My mother-in-law prayed about the situation, then found a sudden cancellation with another provider and urged the reluctant woman to schedule. This other provider worked with the woman from a different perspective and developed a plan that finally brought her relief. Having a nurse who listened and guided her in the right direction changed this patient’s life; she reached out a few weeks later to voice her appreciation and shared that she was finally able to sleep!
Even with no physical presence, God uses telephone triage nurses to care for patients through a calm and compassionate voice. During my time at the clinic, I gently persuaded patients to go to the emergency room for physical and mental health emergencies, celebrated with patients who were recovering from illness, listened to people who were exhausted after years of not finding an explanation for chronic symptoms, advocated for patients to their doctors, and helped individuals navigate an overwhelmingly complicated healthcare and health insurance system. What a blessing it is to be used by God to care for people in so many different ways!
On her work desk, my mother-in-law has two Bible verses that encourage her.
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
May you carry these encouragements with you wherever you care for your patients!
Tiegan Pfantz, BSN, RN, has been a nurse since 2021 and an NCF campus minister in Madison, Wisconsin, since 2022.
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