SynthesisScandinavian journal of primary health care2011
Safety of telephone triage in out-of-hours care: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 7 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
96 citing papers in PubMed, 7 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
- Pooled it
- Consistency of decision support software-integrated telephone triage and associated factors: a systematic review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021Pooled it
- Beyond forest plots: clinical gestalt and its influence on COPD telemonitoring studies and outcomes review.BMJ open · 2019Pooled 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
- Improving the governance of patient safety in emergency care: a systematic review of interventions.BMJ open · 2016Pooled it
- Triage systems for pre-hospital emergency medical services - a systematic review.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2013Pooled it
- A Symptom-Checker for Adult Patients Visiting an Interdisciplinary Emergency Care Center and the Safety of Patient Self-Triage: Real-Life Prospective Evaluation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Video triage in calls concerning children with fever at an out-of-hours medical helpline: a prospective quality improvement study.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2023Trial
- Effect of an educational intervention for telephone triage nurses on out-of-hours attendance: a pragmatic randomized controlled study.BMC health services research · 2023Trial
- 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
- Video-supported telephone triage in emergency primary healthcare: an observational study from Norway.BMJ open · 2026Observational
- Nurse-Led Telephone Triage in Contemporary Healthcare: Bridging the Gap Between Patient Need and Resource Allocation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- 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
- Reorganization of the Danish out-of-hours primary care - a descriptive study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- The Dynamics of Doctor-Patient Communication During Remote Consultations: Qualitative Study Among Norwegian Contract General Practitioners.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Health care pathways described by care-seekers following a call to the emergency medical communication center-A Swedish perspective.PloS one · 2025Article
- The Impact and Wider Implications of Remote Consultations for General Practice in Norway: Qualitative Study Among Norwegian Contract General Practitioners.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- How Healthcare Providers Decide on a Referral Location in Telephone Triage: A Cross-sectional Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
36 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
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTelephone triage in patients requesting help may compromise patient safety, particularly if urgency is underestimated and the patient is not seen by a physician. The aim was to assess the research evidence on safety of telephone triage in out-of-hours primary care.
methodsA systematic review was performed of published research on telephone triage in out-of-hours care, searching in PubMed and EMBASE up to March 2010. Studies were included if they concerned out-of-hours medical care and focused on telephone triage in patients with a first request for help. Study inclusion and data extraction were performed by two researchers independently. Post-hoc two types of studies were distinguished: observational studies in contacts with real patients (unselected and highly urgent contacts), and prospective observational studies using high-risk simulated patients (with a highly urgent health problem).
resultsThirteen observational studies showed that on average triage was safe in 97% (95% CI 96.5-97.4%) of all patients contacting out-of-hours care and in 89% (95% CI 86.7-90.2%) of patients with high urgency. Ten studies that used high-risk simulated patients showed that on average 46% (95% CI 42.7-49.8%) were safe. Adverse events described in the studies included mortality (n = 6 studies), hospitalisations (n = 5), attendance at emergency department (n=1), and medical errors (n = 6).
conclusionsThere is room for improvement in safety of telephone triage in patients who present symptoms that are high risk. As these have a low incidence, recognition of these calls poses a challenge to health care providers in daily practice.
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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.