Objectives
- To explore how phone triage nurses assess callers with mild-to-moderate symptoms of ARTIs and their views and experiences on triaging and counselling these callers
- To investigate whether a clinical training program on ARTIs for phone triage nurses can impact the number of consultations in the out-of-hours GP cooperatives
Outcomes
- A qualitative study with focus group interviews with 22 nurses working in out-of-hours GP cooperatives.
- A randomized, controlled trial with 32 out-of-hours GP cooperatives who receive a training program, and 32 controls. The training program will focus on clinical and communication skills, aiming at improving the quality of the phone triage for acute respiratory tract infections. The primary outcome will be the number of ARTI consultations during the winter season before and after the intervention in all the 64 cooperatives, covering 62 % of the Norwegian population
Background
The primary care out-of-hours service prescribe 20 % of all antibiotics for ARTIs in Norwegian Primary Health Care. In a former study, we have shown that antibiotic prescribing is significantly higher during busy sessions. In most out-of-hours GP cooperatives, nurses perform phone triage, deciding which callers who need to see a doctor out-of-hours, hence influencing how busy each session will be for the doctors.
Financing
The Norwegian Research Fund for General Practice.
Cooperation
National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bergen.
Start – Finish
2018 - 2024