"Just a telephone call away": transforming the nursing profession with telecare and telephone nursing triage.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to examine the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, the National Prevention Council Action Plan, the medical home model, and the nursing standards that drive quality for telephone nursing triage. FINDINGS: These guidelines require reconceptualizing nursing roles, a commitment to lifelong learning, continued competence, and transformational leadership as demonstrated in a best practice case study. CONCLUSION: Given the changing climate of the healthcare system, telephone nurses are capable of improving healthcare delivery in the twenty-first century.