Nursing telephone triage and its influence on parents' choice of care for febrile children

Nursing telephone triage is a mechanism whereby parents call for advice and referrals. One common call in pediatrics concerns children's fever, which may be managed at home. Giving parents proper advice may avoid unnecessary visits. This study investigated whether home-care advice given by nurses changed parents' original preference for care. Data were collected using an existing database to determine parents' preference for location of care before and actual location of care after a call. Of the 110 calls, 73 parents wanted a physician or emergency department visit but 53 followed nursing advice for home care. Findings suggest that although most parents wanted to have their child seen, a majority followed nursing advice for home care.