Do callers to out-of-hours care misuse an option to jump the phone queue?

ABSTRACT: Objectives: Out-of-hours (OOH) services provide access to healthcare outside normal office hours, but the waiting time can sometimes be long. All callers must wait in the telephone queue, even if the health problem is urgent or life-threatening. We tested an emergency access button (EAB), which allowed callers with perceived severe health problems to bypass the queue. We aimed to investigate the severity of the health problems and the relevance of EAB use (assessed by triage professionals). Additionally, we aimed to calculate the number of suspected acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) and ambulance dispatches. Design: Descriptive study of a randomized intervention. Setting: OOH services in two major Danish healthcare regions. Subjects: 217,510 callers participate

SUBMITTER: Ebert JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6566898 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature