ArticleBMC health services research2009
Out-of-hours care in western countries: assessment of different organizational models.
Article in BMC health services research, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 3 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
98 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Task shifting from general practitioners to other health professionals in out-of-hours primary care - a systematic literature review on content and quality of task shifting.The European journal of general practice · 2024Pooled it
- The quality, safety and governance of telephone triage and advice services - an overview of evidence from systematic reviews.BMC health services research · 2017Pooled it
- Safety of telephone triage in out-of-hours care: a systematic review.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2011Pooled it
- Trial
- Do callers to out-of-hours care misuse an option to jump the phone queue?Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2019Trial
- Giving callers the option to bypass the telephone waiting line in out-of-hours services: a comparative intervention study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2019Trial
- Development and evaluation of an "emergency access button" in Danish out-of-hours primary care: a study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.BMC health services research · 2017Trial
- The impact of substituting general practitioners with nurse practitioners on resource use, production and health-care costs during out-of-hours: a quasi-experimental study.BMC family practice · 2016Trial
- Writing information transfers for out-of-hours palliative care: a controlled trial among GPs.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2016Trial
- The effectiveness of nurse practitioners working at a GP cooperative: a study protocol.BMC family practice · 2012Trial
- Task shifting from general practitioners to nurses and the association with patient flow and resource use in out-of-hours primary care clinics: a descriptive register-based study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Out-of-hours services in Zealand, Denmark. Consequences of changeover from GP-cooperative to integrated deputized services. A retrospective cohort study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Telephone triage in urgent unscheduled primary care in 16 European countries: a cross-national questionnaire-based expert study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Video-supported telephone triage in emergency primary healthcare: an observational study from Norway.BMJ open · 2026Observational
- General practice consultation patterns and patient factors predicting older patients' use of out-of-hours services: a nationwide register-based cohort study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- Physician-reported outcomes associated with collaboration between home healthcare institutions and after-hours house-call services in Japan.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Impact of video service failure on triage outcomes in Danish out-of-hours primary care: a register-based study across four regions.BMJ open · 2025Observational
- Task shifting from general practitioners to nurses in out-of-hours primary care: an explorative case study of team-based practices.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Adverse working conditions in Romanian out-of-hours primary care (OOH-PC): an interview study.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Artificial intelligence for severity triage based on conversations in an emergency department in Korea.Scientific reports · 2025Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInternationally, different organizational models are used for providing out-of-hours care. The aim of this study was to assess prevailing models in order to identify their potential strengths and weaknesses.
methodsAn international web-based survey was done in 2007 in a sample of purposefully selected key informants from 25 western countries. The questions concerned prevailing organizational models for out-of-hours care, the most dominant model in each country, perceived weaknesses, and national plans for changes in out-of-hours care.
resultsA total of 71 key informants from 25 countries provided answers. In most countries several different models existed alongside each other. The Accident and Emergency department was the organizational model most frequently used. Perceived weaknesses of this model concerned the coordination and continuity of care, its efficiency and accessibility. In about a third of the countries, the rota group was the most dominant organizational model for out-of-hours care. A perceived weakness of this model was lowered job satisfaction of physicians. The GP cooperative existed in a majority of the participating countries; no weaknesses were mentioned with respect to this model. Most of the countries had plans to change the out-of-hours care, mainly toward large scale organizations.
conclusionGP cooperatives combine size of scale advantages with organizational features of strong primary care, such as high accessibility, continuity and coordination of care. While specific patients require other organizational models, the co-existence of different organizational models for out-of-hours care in a country may be less efficient for health systems.
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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.