MedPath

Telephone Triage Study

Completed
Conditions
Any Medical Condition Presented by Patient
Registration Number
NCT00222001
Lead Sponsor
University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Brief Summary

The advance of communication technology has changed medical practice. The concept of medical telemedicine centers receiving, assessing and managing calls from patients or their carers on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis is spreading in the US as well as in European countries. Usually specially trained nurses using dedicated decision support software provide the service. One aspect is the so-called triage, i.e. the decision on urgency and optimal treatment path of a stated medical problem, which has the potential to contain overall treatment costs.

Despite proliferation of these services, little is known about the quality of the services provided.

In October 2000 the first 24-hour medical telemedicine centre staffed by medical doctors started operating in Switzerland. The aims of this study are to assess the quality of service provided by doctors using decision support software and to determine potential predictors of incorrect triage.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
100
Inclusion Criteria
  • Adult
  • Insured with HMO Basel
  • Patient of HMO practise Sternengasse
  • First call to Medgate for a given medical problem
  • Call is a telephone triage
  • Informed consent
Exclusion Criteria
  • none

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Correctness of triage decision3 Months
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Medgate

🇨🇭

Basel, Switzerland

University Hospital Basel

🇨🇭

Basel, Switzerland

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