Evaluation of the telephone advisory activity at Swedish primary health care centres

Abstract

The telephone advisory function was evaluated by interviewing 100 persons from each of five Swedish health centres one week after they had contacted the health centre for telephone advice. Altogether 497 telephone calls were registered during the study period, and 494 (99%) of those who called could be contacted. Of those who had been given advice about self-care (in all 173 pieces of advice to 98 subjects), 98% stated that they had followed the advice given. In the total series, 91% of the subjects stated that they were content with the contact with the telephone advisers. The majority of those who were not content with the contact had been recommended self-care or given an appointment time with a delay of more than one week. In 10% of the cases the telephone advisers (all of them nurses) considered that they could not give adequate advice because of lack of appointment times with the doctor. In 4% of the cases decisions were made which agreed with the subject's wishes but were not in agreement with what the nurse considered most adequate. When a suitable appointment time was available (422 calls), all but three calls were considered as handled medically correctly, and all but two cases were considered to have been referred to correct level of care. It was concluded that the nurses handled the telephone advisory service in an adequate way.