Use of a telenursing triage service by Victorian parents attending the emergency department for their child's lower urgency condition

Abstract

Objective: The Victorian Nurse-On-Call (NOC) service has been in use for over 8 years, though little research has been conducted investigating the service. The present study aimed to explore whether parents in Victoria presenting with their child to the ED for lower urgency conditions use the NOC before ED arrival and whether the advice given impacts their decision to attend the ED.

Methods: A survey study of 1150 parents attending one of four EDs in Victoria, Australia for their child's lower urgency condition.

Results: Few parents (20%) contacted the service before attending. Of those who did contact the service, 70% were instructed to attend the ED. Parents reported that they did not contact the service due to lack of awareness (16%) and because they perceive the service to not be helpful (53%).

Conclusions: The findings of our study show that use and awareness of NOC is low in parents attending the ED for their child's lower urgency condition. The success of NOC in the goal of deferring non-urgent conditions from presenting to the ED appears limited. Telenursing triage services in Australia should consider assessment of their algorithms to increase the likelihood that where appropriate, lower urgency conditions are directed to primary care services rather than the ED.

Keywords: emergency medicine; nurse; paediatric; parent; telephone triage.