ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2002
Nurse telephone triage for same day appointments in general practice: multiple interrupted time series trial of effect on workload and costs.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Acute Care Remote Triage Systems: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Effectiveness of organizational interventions to reduce emergency department utilization: a systematic review.PloS one · 2012Pooled it
- The effects of telephone consultation and triage on healthcare use and patient satisfaction: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2005Pooled it
- Systematic review of recent innovations in service provision to improve access to primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004Pooled it
- Telephone triage systems in UK general practice: analysis of consultation duration during the index day in a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Trial
- Trial
- A cost-utility analysis of nursing intervention via telephone follow-up for injured road users.BMC health services research · 2009Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of telephone or surgery asthma reviews: economic analysis of a randomised controlled trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2005Trial
- NHS Direct versus general practice based triage for same day appointments in primary care: cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2004Trial
- The Use of Triage in Primary Care in the UK: An Integrative Review and Narrative Synthesis.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Review
- Nurse triage in primary care: concept analysis.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Scoping review of nurse triage in primary care.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Access systems in general practice: a systematic scoping review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
- Replacing conventional telecommunication with a freeform HIPAA compliant healthcare texting app: a survey of patient preference.Surgical endoscopy · 2023Article
- Telephone Triage for Emergency Patients Reduces Unnecessary Ambulance Use: A Propensity Score Analysis With Population-Based Data in Osaka City, Japan.Frontiers in public health · 2022Observational
- The Impact of Digital-First Consultations on Workload in General Practice: Modeling Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Self-compassion as a Stress Moderator: A Cross-sectional Study of 1700 Doctors, Nurses, and Medical Students.Mindfulness · 2020Article
- Observational
- Telephone triage utilization among patients with limited English proficiency.BMC health services research · 2017Article
- Telephone first consultations in primary care.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo compare the workloads of general practitioners and nurses and costs of patient care for nurse telephone triage and standard management of requests for same day appointments in routine primary care.
designMultiple interrupted time series using sequential introduction of experimental triage system in different sites with repeated measures taken one week in every month for 12 months.
settingThree primary care sites in York.
participants4685 patients: 1233 in standard management, 3452 in the triage system. All patients requesting same day appointments during study weeks were included in the trial.
main outcome measuresType of consultation (telephone, appointment, or visit), time taken for consultation, presenting complaints, use of services during the month after same day contact, and costs of drugs and same day, follow up, and emergency care.
resultsThe triage system reduced appointments with general practitioner by 29-44%. Compared with standard management, the triage system had a relative risk (95% confidence interval) of 0.85 (0.72 to 1.00) for home visits, 2.41 (2.08 to 2.80) for telephone care, and 3.79 (3.21 to 4.48) for nurse care. Mean overall time in the triage system was 1.70 minutes longer, but mean general practitioner time was reduced by 2.45 minutes. Routine appointments and nursing time increased, as did out of hours and accident and emergency attendance. Costs did not differ significantly between standard management and triage: mean difference pound 1.48 more per patient for triage (95% confidence interval -0.19 to 3.15).
conclusionsTriage reduced the number of same day appointments with general practitioners but resulted in busier routine surgeries, increased nursing time, and a small but significant increase in out of hours and accident and emergency attendance. Consequently, triage does not reduce overall costs per patient for managing same day appointments.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.