How to Write a Hotline Script for Health Care

People call health care facilities with variety of concerns and questions. Many health care organizations have established hotlines to facilitate the flow of calls and provide information as quickly and accurately as possible. Callers can follow simple instructions to obtain details or reach a customer service representative. An effective way to build a successful hotline, keep callers happy and direct them to the resources they need is to have a well-organized script prepared to record for the hotline.

Instructions

• 1

  Open the word processing program on your computer. Begin by typing the name of the organization, the specific hotline name and the word "script" underneath. Add details regarding the general nature of the hotline and its intended audience.

• 2

  Determine how many prompts are needed to convey all of the options and information to be provided. If you have multiple steps or multiple languages, use multiple digits for prompts as opposed to single digits.

• 3

  Write the initial greeting in simple and straightforward sentences. Include the organization's name and the specific hotline name. For example, "You have reached the information line for (insert health care organization here). Please listen to the following prompts so your call can be routed appropriately."

• 4

  Determine which prompts will apply to alternate-language menus. For example, if the script greeting will be read in Spanish and French, write the prompt to include "To hear the options in Spanish, press 2. To hear the options in French, press 3."

• 5

  Write the initial menu of options. Start with the option followed by the correlated number. For example, "For a list of office locations, press 6." The first menu of options could be general topics such as office locations, office hours, directions, schedule an appointment or speak to a customer service representative.

• 6

  Write additional options and prompts for callers to reach the previous menu or end the call. For example, "To return to the previous menu, press the star key" or "To end this call, simply hang up." Always include an option to reach a customer service representative at any time. For example, "To reach a customer service representative at any time during this call, press 0."

• 7

  Create separate pages and write the subscripts for each option if needed. For example, if the main menu includes "For directions to our office, press 4," write the subscript of this option on a separate page. Type the name of the health care organization, name of the hotline and the words "Option 4 subscript." Start with the name of Option 4 so callers know they are in the correct options. For example, "For directions to our office ..." Write out any details regarding travel details if traveling from certain directions and street-by-street directions. Create additional pages for each subscript as needed.

• 8

  Read the entire script out loud to ensure easy comprehension, and edit as needed. Save the script on your computer to later translate to any alternate languages and record it.