Providing telephone advice from the emergency department

Emergency departments frequently receive telephone calls from the general public. Callers sometimes request detailed instruction or medical advice. The growth of managed care produced expanded use of telephone-based medical information as a part of managed care ED demand management. Although the suboptimal accuracy of on-site triage is well documented in the medical literature, the accuracy of telephone-based medical advice is poorly studied. Case law indicates that the expectations for the medical outcomes of those receiving telephone-based medical advice will not be significantly less than those for on-site ED triage. This American College of Emergency Physicians Policy Resource and Education Paper (PREP) explores these issues.