Does Telephone Consultancy Reduce Intensity in the Emergencies? Viewpoints of the Primary Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this research is to examine the viewpoints of the primary health care workers in Turkey regarding directing the patients to the emergency service by providing them with telephone consultancy (TC). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the universe of the research is composed of the primary health care workers in Turkey. The online questionnaire technique was used to obtain the data. SPSS 15.0 statistical package was used in data analysis and p< 0.05 is considered significant. Results: 1083 healthcare worker participated in the study. The proposal of "I support the TC project" is a statistically significant difference in terms of profession, and it was found out that family health employees looked more positively at this project than the doctors (p=0,028). The total proportion of the health professionals supporting the project was found out to be as low as 17.4%. A statistically significant difference was determined between ages (p=0,005), gender (p=0,005), profession (p=0,000) and years of professional experience (p=0,000) with the proposal of “TC is a populist approach”. The proposal of "TC service reduces the intensity in the emergency service" in term of the profession, the statistical difference was found significant (p=0,023). Compared with family health employees; it was determined that the physicians did not think TC would reduce urgent applications. Conclusion: In Turkey, the primary healthcare workers mostly oppose the TC issue. As the professional experience increase, this rate increases much more.

Giriş: Bu araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye’de aile hekimliği çalışanlarının hastalara telefon danışmanlığı (TD) hizmeti vererek acil servise yönlendirme konusundaki bakış açılarını incelemektir. Yöntem: Kesitsel tipteki bu çalışmada, araştırmanın evrenini Türkiye’de birinci basamak sağlık çalışanları oluşturmaktadır. Verilerin elde edilmesinde online anket tekniği kullanılmıştır. İstatistiksel analizde SPSS.15.0 paket programı kullanıldı ve p<0.05 istatistiksel olarak anlamlı kabul edildi. Bulgular: Çalışmaya 1083 sağlık çalışanı katıldı. “TD projesini destekliyorum” önermesi meslek açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı olup; aile sağlığı elemanlarının hekimlere göre bu projeye daha olumlu baktığı tespit edildi (p=0,028). Projeyi destekleyen sağlık profesyonellerinin toplam oranı %17.4 olarak düşük tespit edilmiştir. “TD popülist bir yaklaşımdır” önermesi ile yaş (p=0,005), cinsiyet (p=0,005), meslek (p=0,000) ve mesleki deneyim yılı (p=0,000) arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark saptandı. “TD hizmeti vermek acil servisteki yoğunluğu azaltır” önermesi ile meslek açısından istatistiksel fark anlamlı bulundu (p=0,023). Hekimler aile sağlığı elemanları ile karşılaştırıldığında TD’nin acil başvurularını azaltacağını düşünmediği tespit edildi. Sonuç: Türkiye’de aile hekimliği çalışanları TD konusuna büyük oranda karşı çıkmaktadır. Mesleki deneyim arttıkça bu oran da artmaktadır.

Keywords

• Telephone consultancy,family medicine,emergency service,Turkey

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