Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33278874›Full record

ArticleBMC family practice2020

Accuracy of telephone triage in patients suspected of transient ischaemic attack or stroke: a cross-sectional study.

Daphne C Erkelens, Frans H Rutten, Loes T Wouters, L Servaas Dolmans, Esther de Groot, Roger A Damoiseaux, Dorien L Zwart

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC family practice, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 16% 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

8 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

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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

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Daphne C ErkelensDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. D.C.A.Erkelens@umcutrecht.nl.ORCID 0000-0002-5846-5201
Frans H RuttenDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Loes T WoutersDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
L Servaas DolmansDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Esther de GrootDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Roger A DamoiseauxDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Dorien L ZwartDepartment of General Practice, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, STR 6.131, P.O. Box 85500, 3508, GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Utrecht University · NL

Funding

Associate Professorship-promotion grant Not applicableStichting Nederlandse Triage Standaard Not applicableStichting Stoffels-Hornstra Not applicable
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Netherlands Triage Standard (NTS) is a widely used decision support tool for telephone triage at Dutch out-of-hours primary care services (OHS-PC), which, however, has never been validated against clinical outcomes. We aimed to determine the accuracy of the NTS urgency allocation for patients with neurological symptoms suggestive of a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or stroke, with the clinical outcomes TIA, stroke, and other (neurologic) life-threatening events (LTEs) as the reference.

methodA cross-sectional study of telephone triage recordings of patients with neurological symptoms calling the OHS-PC between 2014 and 2016.The allocated NTS urgencies were derived from the electronic medical records of the OHS-PC. The clinical outcomes were retrieved from the electronic medical records of the patients' own general practitioners. The accuracy of a high NTS urgency allocation (medical help within 3 h) was calculated in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) with the clinical outcomes TIA/stroke/other LTEs as the reference.

resultsOf 1269 patients, 635 (50.0%) received the diagnosis TIA/stroke (34.2% TIA/minor stroke, 15.8% major ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke), and 4.8% other LTEs. For TIA/stroke/other LTEs, the sensitivity and specificity of the NTS urgency allocation were 0.72 (95%CI 0.68-0.75) and 0.48 (95%CI 0.43-0.52), and the PPV and NPV were 0.62 (95%CI 0.60-0.64) and 0.58 (95%CI 0.54-0.62).

conclusionsThe NTS decision support tool used in Dutch OHS-PC performed poor to moderately regarding safety (sensitivity) and efficiency (specificity) in allocating adequate urgencies to patients with and without TIA/stroke/other LTEs.

trial registrationThe Netherlands National Trial Register, identification number NTR7331 /Trial NL7134 .

Indexed as

Ischemic Attack, TransientStrokeCross-Sectional StudiesHumansTelephoneTriage

Identifiers

PMID33278874
PMCPMC7719259
OpenAlexW3101305263

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.