Giving callers the option to bypass the telephone waiting line in out-of-hours services: a comparative intervention study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Acute out-of-hours (OOH) healthcare is challenged by potentially long waiting time for callers in acute need of medical aid. OOH callers must usually wait in line, even when contacting for highly urgent or life-threatening conditions. We tested an emergency access button (EAB), which allowed OOH callers to bypass the waiting line if they perceived their health problem as severe. We aimed to investigate EAB use and patient characteristics associated with this use.

Design

Comparative intervention study.

Setting

OOH services in two major Danish healthcare regions.

Intervention

Giving callers the option to bypass the telephone waiting line by introducing an EAB.

Participants

OOH service callers contacting during end of October to mid-December 2017.

SUBMITTER: Ebert JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6452808 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature