Outcomes of a nurse-led telephone triage service in Australia

This paper reports on a study which comprised the first comprehensive evaluation of the Kids Kare Line telephone triage service in which experienced registered nurses respond to parents' requests for health-care advice for their child. This service is located in an acute care hospital in regional New South Wales, Australia. One hundred and one parents who telephoned the Kids Kare Line responded to a telephone-administered survey designed to determine the service's efficiency and effectiveness. Responses demonstrated that parents sought advice about a range of issues, of which the management of fever was the most frequent. All but five parents considered their call to have been answered promptly, all parents understood the advice provided to them and 96% of parents were satisfied with this advice. Fifty parents identified that they had not used another service or health practitioner for the same issue subsequent to their Kids Kare Line telephone call.