Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31230024›Full record

Observational studyBMJ open2019

Communicative characteristics of general practitioner-led and nurse-led telephone triage at two Danish out-of-hours services: an observational study of 200 recorded calls.

Emil Vilstrup, Dennis Schou Graversen, Linda Huibers, Morten Bondo Christensen, Anette Fischer Pedersen

Open access · goldAbstract readMulticenter StudyObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Emil VilstrupResearch Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Dennis Schou GraversenResearch Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Linda HuibersResearch Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Morten Bondo ChristensenResearch Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Anette Fischer PedersenResearch Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0003-0253-3671
Aarhus University · DK

Funding

Bipolar Disorder &Alcohol Abuse ComorbidityK23MH001813 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FRYE, MARK A · 2001 to 2006
$834k
NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH001813
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesOut-of-hours (OOH) telephone triage is used to manage patient flow, but knowledge of the communicative skills of telephone triagists is limited. The aims of this study were to compare communicative parameters in general practitioner (GP)-led and nurse-led OOH telephone triage and to discuss differences in relation to patient-centred communication and safety issues.

designObservational study.

settingTwo Danish OOH settings: a large-scale general practitioner cooperative in the Central Denmark Region (n=100 GP-led triage conversations) and Medical Helpline 1813 in the Capital Region of Denmark (n=100 nurse-led triage conversations with use of a clinical decision support system).

participants200 audio-recorded telephone triage conversations randomly selected. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Conversations were compared with regard to length of call, distribution of speaking time, question types, callers' expression of negative affect, and nurses' and GPs' responses to callers' negative affectivity using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Student's t-test.

resultsCompared with GPs, nurses had longer telephone contacts (137s vs 264 s, p=0.001) and asked significantly more questions (5 vs 9 questions, p=0.001). In 36% of nurse-led triage conversations, triage nurses either transferred the call to a physician or had to confer the call with a physician. Nurses gave the callers significantly more spontaneous talking time than GPs (23.4s vs 17.9 s, p=0.01). Compared with nurses, GPs seemed more likely to give an emphatic response when a caller spontaneously expressed concern; however, this difference was not statistically significant (36% vs 29%, p=0.6).

conclusionsWhen comparing communicative parameters in GP-led and nurse-led triage, several differences were observed. However, the impact of these differences in the perspective of patient-centred communication and safety needs further research. More knowledge is needed to determine what characterises good quality in telephone triage communication.

Indexed as

CommunicationAfter-Hours CareDenmarkGeneral PractitionersHumansNurse-Patient RelationsNursesPhysician-Patient RelationsTelemedicineTelephoneTimeTriage‘communication’‘denmark’‘out-of-hours’‘patientsafety’‘telephone triage’

Identifiers

PMID31230024
PMCPMC6596995
OpenAlexW2952882489

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.