Safety of telephone triage in out-of-hours care: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Telephone triage in patients requesting help may compromise patient safety, particularly if urgency is underestimated and the patient is not seen by a physician. The aim was to assess the research evidence on safety of telephone triage in out-of-hours primary care.

Methods

A systematic review was performed of published research on telephone triage in out-of-hours care, searching in PubMed and EMBASE up to March 2010. Studies were included if they concerned out-of-hours medical care and focused on telephone triage in patients with a first request for help. Study inclusion and data extraction were performed by two researchers independently. Post-hoc two types of studies were distinguished: observational studies in contacts with real patients (unselected and highly ur

SUBMITTER: Huibers L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3308461 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature