Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 40, Issue 2 , Pages 217-219, August 2002

Providing telephone advice from the emergency department☆☆☆

Department of Emergency Medicine, Southern Hills Medical Center, Nashville, TN; the Department of Emergency Medicine, Martha's Vineyard Hospital, Oak Bluffs, MA; the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA; and the Department of Emergency Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, TX.

Received 19 June 2001; received in revised form 18 February 2002; accepted 19 March 2002.

Abstract 

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. [Proctor JH, Hirshberg AJ, Kazzi AA, Parker RB. Providing telephone advice from the emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. August 2002;40:217-219.]

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☆ Prepared by the American College of Emergency Physicians Emergency Medicine Practice Committee as a Policy Resource Education Paper.

☆☆ Address for correspondence: John H. Proctor, MD, MBA, Department of Emergency Medicine, Southern Hills Medical Center, 391 Wallace Road, Nashville, TN 37211; 615-781-4607; E-mail jhproctor@comcast.net. Address for reprints: American College of Emergency Physicians, Customer Service, PO Box 619911, Dallas, TX 75261-9911; 800-798-1822, touch 6.

PII: S0196-0644(02)00032-X

doi:10.1067/mem.2002.126398

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 40, Issue 2 , Pages 217-219, August 2002

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