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

Year 2018, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 162 - 170, 27.08.2018

Özgür Erdem , Fatma Özdemir

https://doi.org/10.21763/tjfmpc.452425

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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