Created on : 16.02.2021 Last modified : 16.02.2021

Impact of a telephone triage service for non-critical emergencies in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

Switzerland, 2018

Reference ID

10.16909-DATASET-25

DOI

https://doi.org/10.16909/DATASET/25

Producer(s)

Chloé Thierrin, Aurélie Augsburger, Fabrice Dami, Christophe Monney, Philippe Staeger, Carole Clair

Collections

Department of Ambulatory Care (DDP)

Metadata

DDI/XML JSON

Identification

Survey ID number

10.16909-DATASET-25

Title

Impact of a telephone triage service for non-critical emergencies in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

Country

Name	Country code
Switzerland	CHE

Abstract

Introduction: Telephone triage services (TTS) play an increasing role in the delivery of healthcare. The objective of this study was to characterize the users of a TTS for non-critical emergencies, describe the types of advice given and their subsequent observation, and assess the influence of TTS on the use of the healthcare system in a sanitary region of Switzerland.
Methods: Data from a TTS based in the French part of Switzerland were analyzed. This service consists of a medical contact center for non-critical emergencies, with trained nurses available 24/7. A random selection of 2,034 adult calls was performed between July and December 2018. Research students contacted users 2 to 4 weeks after the initial call and assessed sociodemographic and clinical data, as well as the impact of the advice received on the use of the healthcare system.
Results: A sample of 412 (22.2%) users was included in the analyses. The average age was 49.0 (SD 20.4) years; 68.5% were women and 72.8% of Swiss origin. The two main recommendations provided by nurses were to consult the emergency department (ED) (44.6%, n=184) and to contact a physician on duty (33.2%, n=137). The majority of users followed the advice given by the nurses (substantial agreement [k=0.79] with consulting the ED and perfect agreement [k=0.87] with contacting a physician on duty). We calculated that calling the TTS could decrease the intention to visit the ED by 28.1%.
Conclusion: TTS for non-critical emergencies have the potential to decrease the use of ED services.

Unit of Analysis

412 individuals

Version

Version Description

Version 1.0

Version Date

2021-02-16

Scope

Keywords

Telephone triage general practice emergency medicine delivery of health care

Coverage

Universe

Humans

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name	Affiliation
Chloé Thierrin	Department of Ambulatory Care, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Aurélie Augsburger	Department of Training, Research and Innovation, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Fabrice Dami	Fondation Urgences Santé, Lausanne, Switzerland. Emergency Department, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Christophe Monney	Department of Ambulatory Care, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Fondation Urgences Santé, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Philippe Staeger	Department of Ambulatory Care, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Fondation Urgences Santé, Lausanne, Switzerland
Carole Clair	Department of Training, Research and Innovation, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name
Fondation Urgences Santé
Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

In this cross-sectional study, a research collaborator randomly selected calls each week from all TTS calls made during a 4-month period (July 24 to September 27, 2018, and October 23 to December 17, 2018) by using STATA software (Stata Corp 2015, College Station, Texas, USA).

Data collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End
2018-07-24	2018-09-27
2018-10-23	2018-12-17

Data Access

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	Email
Thierrin, Chloé	Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland	thierrin.chloe@gmail.com
Racine, Céline (Repository manager)	Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland	dfri.data@unisante.ch

Access conditions

Licensed datasets, accessible under conditions

To request access to licensed datasets, please register to the website to continue (https://data.unisante.ch/index.php/auth/register). Once your registration will be approved you must login and go to the "GET MICRODATA" tab and fill in the application form for access to the licensed dataset.

This form includes our Data access agreement and must be filled and submitted by the Lead Researcher. Lead Researcher refers to the person who serves as the main point of contact for all communications involving this agreement. The Lead Researcher assumes all responsibility for compliance with all terms of this Data Access Agreement by employees of the receiving organization.

This request will be reviewed by the Primary Investigator, who may decide to approve the request, to deny access to the data, or to request additional information from the Lead Researcher. A signed copy of this request form may also be requested.
If special conditions apply to the transfer of the requested data (e.g. transfer under a contract between Unisanté and a third party), the references of the contract concerned or the document in which the conditions are specified must be referenced in the request form. The person who makes the request will still need to check the box confirming the acceptance of the terms of use, it being understood that the conditions written in the above mentioned contract will apply.

Citation requirements

Thierrin C., Augsburger A., Dami F., Monney C., Staeger P-, Clair C. Impact of a telephone triage service for non-critical emergencies in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study. Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Version 1.0 of the licensed dataset (February 2021), provided by the Unisanté Research Data Repository. DOI:10.16909/DATASET/25

Disclaimer and copyrights

Disclaimer

The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

Metadata production

DDI Document ID

10.16909-DATASET-25

Producers

Name	Role
Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland	Data publisher

Metadata version

DDI Document version

Version 1.0 (February 2021)

Study description in PDF

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