Evaluation of an established telephone triage program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of an established telephone triage (TT) service in a pediatric outpatient clinic. A sample of 25% of all callers triaged at the pediatric clinic in a one month period was randomly selected for participation in the study. A telephone survey was developed and used to guide the data collection. This study demonstrated that the telephone triage program evaluated resulted in the following positive outcomes. First, the TT program was found to be helpful in meeting the needs of the client. Second, clients were satisfied with both the technical and interpersonal aspects of the program. Third, the program resulted in considerable dollar savings for the pediatric clinic. Conclusions were that this TT program lived up to its expected outcomes, and that more research is needed to identify variables and the degree to which they contribute to a successful TT program.