Dr. Dan Pepe

April 30, 2024

Acknowledgement vs. Triage

As your family doctors, the most important part of our work is maintaining a strong relationship with you and your family.

To that end, we know that there is no better way to strain a relationship than to not respond when you reach out for help.  What we wanted to highlight in this blog post is the difference between an acknowledgement vs. triage.

Acknowledgement - the act of recognizing that a request was received.

Triage - an assessment to determine the urgency of need and the treatment required

Triage is what we do as a team to make sure those who need an urgent response receive the most appropriate response while more non-urgent issues are dealt with later.

As a team, we've changed how we receive and triage messages over the last 6 years and we thought it was important to update you as our patient so that you have a clear idea of what happens now when you call requesting care.

When you call the office when we are open and leave a voicemail the message you leave is automatically transcribed so we can read what you said. 

Our team which includes a secretary, Nurse,  practice facilitator and your Family Doctors constantly review all voicemails throughout the day to determine
  • who is most urgent
  • who is most appropriate to respond to the request 
  • who we could help with a quick phone call
  • who requires a quick email 

In previous years, we would simply book most people for an appointment and this wasn't always the best use of our time or yours. Now we are now triaging every request as a team to work together and not only support each other but support you in receiving the best primary care. 

We will keep improving and keep you updated. 

About Dr. Dan Pepe

Dr. Pepe, Dr. Lin-Pepe, and Dr. Gurland are comprehensive Family Physicians who practice in London, Ontario. We work collaboratively with our team to keep you healthy and support you when you are sick.