Survey on infectious disease telephone hotlines in primary care: General practitioners' satisfaction and compliance with advice

Abstract

Objectives: Infectious disease (ID) advice is a major part of antimicrobial stewardship programs. The objective of this study was to assess general practitioners' (GPs)' opinions and compliance with advice given by ID hotlines.

Patients and methods: This multicenter survey was based on the 7-day assessment of initial advice requested by GPs to a hotline set up by volunteer hospital ID teams to record advice for 3 years. The primary endpoint was the GPs' satisfaction with the advice given by ID specialists.

Results: Ten ID teams participated in the study and recorded 4138 requests for advice, of which 1325 requests included a proposal for antibiotic therapy and justified a follow-up call at seven days. Only 398 follow-up calls (30%) were carried out because many GPs were not reachable. GPs were very satisfied with ID hotlines: 58% considered them indispensable and 38% very useful. The recommendations provided by ID specialists were followed by GPs in more than 80% of cases. The two main motivations for GPs to call the hotline were to get quick advice (86%) and to receive help in managing a patient (76%).

Conclusions: The ID telephone consultations and advice systems for GPs are highly appreciated and are effective in terms of following the recommendations.

Keywords: Antimicrobial stewardship; General practitioners; Infectious disease advice; Intersectoral collaborations; Telephone hotline.