The faceless encounter: ethical dilemmas in telephone nursing

Aim. This paper aims to present the findings of a study designed to describe ethical dilemmas, in the form of conflicting values, norms and interests, which telenurses experience in their work. Background. Telephone nursing is an expanding part of health care. Telephone nurses in Sweden assess care needs, provide advice, support and information, and recommend and coordinate healthcare resources. Lately, ethical demands on healthcare professionals in general have increased. The reasons include new biomedical competence, an ageing population and constrained resources which have made priority setting a primary concern for doctors and nurses. When ethical problems arise, colleagues need open dialogue. Despite this, nurses lack such a dialogue. Method. A purposeful sample of 12 female telenurses in Sweden was interviewed twice during 2004 and 2005. The transcribed interviews were analysed thematically. Results. Five themes were found: talking through a third party; discussing personal and sensitive problems over the phone; insufficient resources and the organization of health care; balancing callers’ information needs with professional responsibility; and differences in judging the caller's credibility. Conclusion. The present study has identified five different themes in which Swedish telenurses experience ethical dilemmas in their work. This shows how ethical dilemmas in various forms are present in telenursing. Questions of autonomy, integrity and prioritizing are particularly highlighted by the participating nurses. Telenurses in Sweden also experience new ethical demands due to a multicultural society. Although several of the identified dilemmas also occur in other areas of nursing we argue that these situations are particularly challenging in telenursing. Relevance to clinical practice. The work organization should provide opportunities for ethical competence‐building, where ethical dilemmas in telenursing are highlighted and discussed. Such a strategy might lead to decreased moral uncertainty and distress among telenurses, with positive consequences for callers.     

急腹症病人的分诊技巧

目的:使病人在正确的时间、正确的地点、得到正确的救治,以提高抢救成功率.方法:依照先重后轻、先急后缓的原则对病人进行预检分诊,重危患者开辟"绿色通道".结果:简化了就诊手续,缩短了就诊时间.结论:掌握分诊技巧,可使患者得到及时有效地救护,提高了抢救成功率.     

Predictors for clinical deterioration of mental state in patients assessed by telephone‐based mental health triage

Patient safety research focussing on recognizing and responding to clinical deterioration is gaining momentum in generalist health, but has received little attention in mental health settings. The focus on early identification and prompt intervention for clinical deterioration enshrined in patient safety research is equally relevant to mental health, especially in triage and crisis care contexts, yet the knowledge gap in this area is substantial. The present study was a controlled cohort study (n = 817) that aimed to identify patient and service characteristics associated with clinical deterioration of mental state indicated by unplanned admission to an inpatient psychiatric unit following assessment by telephone‐based mental health triage. The main objective of the research was to produce knowledge to improve understandings of mental deterioration that can be used to inform early detection, intervention, and prevention strategies at the point of triage. The results of the study found that the clinical profile of admitted patients was one of complexity and severity. Admitted patients were more likely to have had complex psychiatric histories with multiple psychiatric admissions, severe psychotic symptoms, a history of treatment non‐adherence, and poorer social functioning than non‐admitted patients.     

The Emergency Severity Index Triage Algorithm Version 2 Is Reliable and Valid

OBJECTIVES: Initial studies have shown improved reliability and validity of a new triage tool, the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), over conventional three-level scales at two university medical centers. After pilot implementation and validation, the ESI was revised to include pediatric and updated vital signs criteria. The goal of this study was to assess ESI version (v.) 2 reliability and validity at seven emergency departments (EDs) in three states. METHODS: In part 1, interrater reliability was assessed using weighted kappa analysis of written training cases and postimplementation by a random sampling of actual patient triages. In part 2, validity was analyzed using a prospective cohort with stratified random sampling at each site. The ESI was compared with outcomes including resource consumption, inpatient admission, ED length of stay, and 60-day all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Weighted kappa analysis of interrater reliability ranged from 0.70 to 0.80 for the written scenarios (n = 3289) and 0.69 to 0.87 for patient triages (n = 386). Outcomes for the validity cohort (n = 1042) included hospitalization rates by ESI triage level: level 1, 83%; 2, 67%; 3, 42%; 4, 8%; level 5, 4%. Sixty-day all-cause mortality by triage level was as follows: level 1, 25%; 2, 4%; 3, 2%; 4, 1%; and 5, 0%. CONCLUSIONS: ESI v. 2 triage produced reliable, valid stratification of patients across seven sites. ESI triage should be evaluated as an ED casemix identification system for uniform data collection in the United States and compared with other major ED triage methods.     

The status of the Glasgow Coma Scale

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was first introduced in the 1970s to provide a simple and reliable method of recording and monitoring change in the level of consciousness of head injured patients. Since its introduction, the GCS has been widely utilized in the trauma community and its use expanded beyond the original intentions of the score. In the context of traumatic injury, this paper discusses the use of the GCS as a predictor of outcome, the limitations of the GCS, the reliability of the GCS and potential alternatives through a critical review of the literature. The relevance to Australian trauma populations is also addressed.     

Failure to Validate a Predictive Model for Refusal of Care to Emergency-department Patients

Objective: To determine whether previously developed triage criteria for refusal of care to patients presenting to an emergency department (ED) with nonurgent problems could be validated for an independent patient population.
Methods: A convenience sample of 534 adults presenting to a municipal hospital ED between July 1, 1992, and October 15, 1992, who met preestablished criteria for refusal of care were entered into a prospective, observational, cohort study. The single target outcome variable was hospitalization. In order to optimize the criteria's performance, both the triage nurse and the physician caring for the patient had to agree that all criteria for "refusal of care" were specifically met. No patient was refused care, nor was a patient's management or disposition interfered with in any way by the investigators. All patients were followed until hospital admission or release from the ED.
Results: Six (1.1%) of 534 patients (95% CI 0.4–2.4) who met the criteria for refusal of care were hospitalized. This represents a greater than 50-fold difference in incidence of hospitalization when compared with that found by other investigators, who reported that only 0.02% (95% CI 0.0004–0.04) of those patients who were refused care subsequently required hospitalization (p < 10–7).
Conclusion: The authors were unable to validate a previously developed predictive model for refusal of care to patients presenting to an ED. Refusal of care to selected ED patients based on current guidelines is not a viable solution to overcrowding. Alternative strategies must be sought.     

The effect on the patient flow in a local health care after implementing reverse triage in a primary care emergency department: a longitudinal follow-up study

Objective: Reverse triage means that patients who are not considered to be in need of medical services are not placed on the doctor’s list in an emergency department (ED) but are sent, after face-to-face evaluation by a triage nurse, to a more appropriate health care unit. It is not known how an abrupt application of such reverse triage in a combined primary care ED alters the demand for doctors’ services in collaborative parts of the health care system.

Design: An observational study.

Setting: Register-based retrospective quasi-experimental longitudinal follow-up study based on a before–after setting in a Finnish city.

Subjects: Patients who consulted different doctors in a local health care unit.

Main outcome measures: Numbers of monthly visits to different doctor groups in public and private primary care, and numbers of monthly referrals to secondary care ED from different sources of primary care were recorded before and after abrupt implementation of the reverse triage.

Results: The beginning of reverse triage decreased the number of patient visits to a primary ED doctor without increasing mortality. Simultaneously, there was an increase in doctor visits in the adjacent secondary care ED and local private sector. The number of patients who came to secondary care ED without a referral or with a referral from the private sector increased.

Conclusions: The data suggested that the reverse triage causes redistribution of the use of doctors’ services rather than a true decrease in the use of these services.     

Prehospital Trauma Triage Decision-making: A Model of What Happens between the 9-1-1 Call and the Hospital

We describe the decision-making process used by emergency medical services (EMS) providers in order to understand how 1) injured patients are evaluated in the prehospital setting; 2) field triage criteria are applied in-practice; and 3) selection of a destination hospital is determined. We conducted separate focus groups with advanced and basic life support providers from rural and urban/suburban regions. Four exploratory focus groups were conducted to identify overarching themes and five additional confirmatory focus groups were conducted to verify initial focus group findings and provide additional detail regarding trauma triage decision-making and application of field triage criteria. All focus groups were conducted by a public health researcher with formal training in qualitative research. A standardized question guide was used to facilitate discussion at all focus groups. All focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed. Responses were coded and categorized into larger domains to describe how EMS providers approach trauma triage and apply the Field Triage Decision Scheme. We conducted 9 focus groups with 50 EMS providers. Participants highlighted that trauma triage is complex and there is often limited time to make destination decisions. Four overarching domains were identified within the context of trauma triage decision-making: 1) initial assessment; 2) importance of speed versus accuracy; 3) usability of current field triage criteria; and 4) consideration of patient and emergency care system-level factors. Field triage is a complex decision-making process which involves consideration of many patient and system-level factors. The decision model presented in this study suggests that EMS providers place significant emphasis on speed of decisions, relying on initial impressions and immediately observable information, rather than precise measurement of vital signs or systematic application of field triage criteria.