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Assessing clinical urgency via telephone in rural A ustralia
Author(s) -
Knight Kaye,
Kenny Amanda,
Endacott Ruth
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1111/nhs.12161
Subject(s) - triage , nursing , focus group , health care , telephone interview , telephone line , qualitative research , medicine , rural area , rural health , medical emergency , business , telephony , sociology , telecommunications , political science , marketing , social science , pathology , computer science , law
Abstract When people telephone rural health services with unscheduled healthcare needs, rural nurses manage these telephone presentations. However, there is professional controversy surrounding the practice, and paucity in research outside formalized telephone triage services. This article reports on a qualitative study exploring the actions nurses take when people telephone rural health services with unscheduled healthcare needs and the factors that influence these actions. Registered nurses from five rural health services in V ictoria, A ustralia, participated in telephone interviews or focus groups during 2010 and 2011. Descriptions of telephone interactions reflected a structured approach to providing care. Participants described strategies to minimize clinical risk while brokering competing needs and finite resources to achieve a “best outcome” for all stakeholders. This study reveals a gap in policy and practice support for rural nurses providing care via telephone and differentiates this rural nursing practice from that of formalized telephone triage.