Telephone announcements encouraging common cold self-management reduce demand for general practice appointments
| Autor: | Hamish Kerr, Alan Grainger, Carol Messer, Robin Kerr |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Waiting time
self-management 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology Health IT systems and process innovations 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Intervention (counseling) medicine 030212 general & internal medicine general practice Self-management business.industry Common cold General Medicine Baseline data medicine.disease common cold Community pharmacy Community pharmacist General practice technology telephone Medical emergency business |
| Zdroj: | BMJ Innovations |
| ISSN: | 2055-642X |
| Popis: | BackgroundPatients consulting with the common cold contribute to seasonal demand for general practice appointments. Seeing a community pharmacist or using self-management may have been more appropriate options. The study aimed to measure if the use of telephone announcements signposting appropriate patients with the common cold in the direction of community pharmacy or self-management reduced demand for general practice consultations.MethodsPatients telephoning a UK general practice to request an appointment between December 2017 and March 2018 heard announcements regarding management of the common cold. The percentage of callers choosing to continue to speak to a receptionist was compared with baseline data prior to the intervention. The mean waiting time to the third available routine general practice appointment during the intervention was compared with the previous year.ResultsRoutine calls continuing to reception reduced by 5.5 % (pConclusionThis study has demonstrated that the use of telephone announcements signposting appropriate patients with the common cold in the direction of community pharmacy or self-management reduces calls to reception. This strongly infers that the telephone announcements reduce demand for general practice appointments and is supported by the reduced mean waiting time to the third available routine appointment. Implementation of this intervention could help general practitioners reduce seasonal demand in their own practices. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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