Use of a telephone advise line in an accident and emergency department
BMJ 1994; 308 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.308.6920.31 (Published 01 January 1994) Cite this as: BMJ 1994;308:31
- C V Egleston,
- H C Kelly,
- A R Cope
- Accidents and Emergency Department, Peterborough District Hospital, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE3 6DA.
- Accepted 12 August 1993
Members of the public often telephone accident and emergency departments for medical advice. The British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine has guidelines for handling these inquiries to ensure quality of service.1 We studied this department's advice line to determine who requests advice, why advice is sought, the quality of advice given, and callers' satisfaction.
Subjects, methods, and results
Telephone calls to our department requesting advice are tape recorded and dealt with by a trained nurse (of at least six months' experience) or a doctor as an additional duty. During the study (19 October to 4 December 1992) we recorded the caller's and patient's names; their relationship; the sex, age, and medical problem of the patient; and the address and telephone number of the caller. Patients were advised to attend our department or …