Telephone Triage Study

Outcome Evaluation of Triage for Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Patients Performed by Doctors in a Medical Telemedicine Center

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Any Medical Condition Presented by Patient

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 100

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Basel, Switzerland, 4031
    • University Hospital Basel
  • Basel, Switzerland
    • Medgate

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Regular HMO patients

Description

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 Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
HMO Patients; Measurement of telephone triage outcome.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Correctness of triage decision	3 Months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
• Collaborators: Medgate AG, Switzerland; HMO Gesundheitsplan Basel, Switzerland
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Serge O Reichlin, MD, University Hospital Basel and Medgate AG

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2002
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2004
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 15, 2005
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 15, 2005
• First Posted (Estimate): September 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 28, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 27, 2015
• Last Verified: January 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: MS-001-2002