Any Medical Condition Presented by Patient Clinical Trial
Official title:
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.
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Observational Model: Cohort, Time Perspective: Prospective