Utility of a Telephone Triage Hotline in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Observational Study.

Autor: Cher BAY; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Wilson EA; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Pinsky AM; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Townshend RF; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Wolski AV; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Broderick M; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Milen AM; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Lau A; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Singh A; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Cinti SK; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.; Department of Internal Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Engelke CG; Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States., Saha AK; Department of Anesthesiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United States.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of medical Internet research [J Med Internet Res] 2021 Nov 01; Vol. 23 (11), pp. e28105. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Nov 01.
DOI: 10.2196/28105
Abstrakt: Background: During the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly rising disease prevalence in the United States created a demand for patient-facing information exchanges that addressed questions and concerns about the disease. One approach to managing increased patient volumes during a pandemic involves the implementation of telephone-based triage systems. During a pandemic, telephone triage hotlines can be employed in innovative ways to conserve medical resources and offer useful population-level data about disease symptomatology and risk factor profiles.
Objective: The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate the COVID-19 telephone triage hotline used by a large academic medical center in the midwestern United States.
Methods: Michigan Medicine established a telephone hotline to triage inbound patient calls related to COVID-19. For calls received between March 24, 2020, and May 5, 2020, we described total call volume, data reported by callers including COVID-19 risk factors and symptomatology, and distribution of callers to triage algorithm endpoints. We also described symptomatology reported by callers who were directed to the institutional patient portal (online medical visit questionnaire).
Results: A total of 3929 calls (average 91 calls per day) were received by the call center during the study period. The maximum total number of daily calls peaked at 211 on March 24, 2020. Call volumes were the highest from 6 AM to 11 AM and during evening hours. Callers were most often directed to the online patient portal (1654/3929, 42%), nursing hotlines (1338/3929, 34%), or employee health services (709/3929, 18%). Cough (126/370 of callers, 34%), shortness of breath (101/370, 27%), upper respiratory infection (28/111, 25%), and fever (89/370, 24%) were the most commonly reported symptoms. Immunocompromised state (23/370, 6%) and age >65 years (18/370, 5%) were the most commonly reported risk factors.
Conclusions: The triage algorithm successfully diverted low-risk patients to suitable algorithm endpoints, while directing high-risk patients onward for immediate assessment. Data collected from hotline calls also enhanced knowledge of symptoms and risk factors that typified community members, demonstrating that pandemic hotlines can aid in the clinical characterization of novel diseases.
(©Benjamin A Y Cher, Eric A Wilson, Alexa M Pinsky, Ryan F Townshend, Ann V Wolski, Michael Broderick, Allison M Milen, Audrey Lau, Amrit Singh, Sandro K Cinti, Carl G Engelke, Anjan K Saha. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 01.11.2021.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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