Nurses' experiences with telephone triage and advice: A meta-ethnography

Journal of Advanced Nursing

Volumn 66, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 482-494

  Purc Stephenson, Rebecca J ^a   Thrasher, Christine ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR   (Canada)

Author keywords

Decision making; Literature review; Meta ethnography; Nurses; Telephone triage

Indexed keywords

EID: 77449138236     PISSN: 03092402     EISSN: 13652648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05275.x     Document Type: Review

References (50)

1. Organizations and Agencies 2009, http://tie.telemed.org/links/organizations.asp, Retrieved from on 21 February 2009
2. Atkins S, Lewin S, Smith H, Engel M, Fretheim A, Volmink J. Conducting a meta-ethnography of qualitative literature: lessons learnt. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2008, 8:21-31.
3. Barbour RS. Checklists for improving rigor in qualitative research: a case of the tail wagging the dog? British Medical Journal 2001, 322:1115-1117.
4. Belt V, Richardson R, Webster J. Women's work in the information economy: the case of telephone call centres. Information, Communication and Society 2000, 3:259-270.
5. Benner P. From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice 1984, Menlo Park, Addison-Wesley
6. Britten N, Campbell R, Pope C, Donovan J, Morgan M, Pill R. Using meta-ethnography to synthesise qualitative research: a worked example. Journal of Health Service Research Policy 2002, 7(4):209-215.
7. Bunn F, Byrne G, Kendall S. Telephone consultation and triage: effects on health care use and patient satisfaction. Cochrane Database Systematic Review 2004, 18(4):CD004180.
8. Chapman J, Zechel A, Carter Y, Abbott S. Systematic review of recent innovations in service provision to improve access to primary care. British Journal of General Practice 2004, 54:374-381.
9. Collin-Jacques C. Professionals at work: a study of autonomy and skill utilization in nurse call centres in England and Canada. Call Centres and Human Resource Management 2004, Deery SKinnie N. In, eds, Basingstoke, Palgrave
10. Collin-Jacques C, Smith C. Nursing on the line: experiences from England and Quebec (Canada). Human Relations 2005, 58:5-32.
11. Corcoran S, Narayan S, Moreland H. Thinking aloud as a strategy to improve decision making. Heart and Lung 1988, 17:463-468. *
12. Demerouti E, Bakker AB, Nachreiner F, Schaufeli WB. The job demands - resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology 2001, 86:499-512.
13. Dixon-Woods M, Agarwal S, Jones D, Young B, Sutton A. Synthesizing qualitative and quantitative evidence: a review of possible methods. Journal of Health Services & Research Policy 2005, 10:45-53.
14. Edwards B. Telephone triage: how experienced nurses reach decisions. Journal of Advanced Nursing 1994, 19:717-724. *
15. Edwards B. Seeing is believing - picture building: a key component of telephone triage. Journal of Clinical Nursing 1998, 7:51-57. *
16. Goodman EA, Boss R. Burnout dimensions and voluntary and involuntary turnover in a health care setting. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration 1999, 21:462-471.
17. Hanlon G, Strangleman T, Goode J, Luff D, O'Cathain A, Greatbatch D. Knowledge, technology and nursing: the case of NHS Direct. Human Relations 2005, 58:147-171. *
18. Hjelm NM. Benefits and drawbacks of telemedicine. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 2005, 11:60-70.
19. Holmström I, Dall'Alba G. 'Carer and gatekeeper'- conflicting demands in nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 2002, 16:142-148. *
20. Holmström I, Höglund A. The faceless encounter: ethical dilemmas in telephone nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing 2007, 16:1865-1871. *
21. Knights D, McCabe D. What happens when the phone goes wild? Staff, stress and spaces for escape in a BPR telephone banking work regime. Journal of Management Studies 1998, 35:163-194.
22. Knowles E, O'Cathain A, Morrell J, Munro JF, Nicholl JP. NHS Direct and nurses - opportunity or monotony? International Journal of Nursing Studies 2002, 39:857-866. *
23. Kruijver IP, Kerkstra A, Bensing JM, van de Wiel HB. Evaluation of communication training programs in nursing care: a review of the literature. Patient Education and Counseling 2000, 39:129-145.
24. Lang F, Floyd MR, Beine KL. Clues to patients' explanations and concerns about their illnesses: a call for active listening. Archives in Family Medicine 2000, 9:222-227.
25. Leibowitz R, Day S, Dunt D. A systematic review of the effect of different models of after hours primary medical care services on clinical outcome, medical workload, and patient and GP satisfaction. Family Practice 2003, 20:311-317.
26. Malpass A, Shaw A, Sharp D, Walter F, Feder G, Ridd M, Kessler D. " Medication career" or " moral career" ? The two sides of managing antidepressants: a meta-ethnography of patients' experience of antidepressants. Social Science and Medicine 2009, 68:154-168.
27. Marsden J. An evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of telephone triage as a method of patient prioritization in an ophthalmic accident and emergency service. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2000, 31((2)):401-409.
28. May C, Mort M, Williams T, Mair F, Gask L. Health technology assessment in its local contexts: studies of telehealthcare. Social Science and Medicine 2003, 57:697-710.
29. Mays N, Pope C, Popay J. Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field. Journal of Health Service Research Policy 2005, 10:6-20.
30. Miller TW. Telehealth issues in consulting psychology practice. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 2006, 58:82-90.
31. Noblit GW, Hare RD. Meta-Ethnography: Synthesizing Qualitative Studies 1988, Newbury Park, Sage
32. O'Cathain A, Sampson FC, Munro JF, Thomas KJ, Nicholl JP. Nurses' views of using computerized decision support software in NHS Direct. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2004, 45((4)):280-286.
33. Perednia DA, Allen D. Telemedicine technology and clinical applications. Journal of American Medical Association 1996, 273:483-488.
34. Pettinari CJ, Jessopp L. 'Your ears become your eyes': managing the absence of visibility in NHS Direct. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2001, 36:668-675. *
35. Popay J, Rogers A, Williams G. Rationale and standards for the systematic review of qualitative literature in health services research. Qualitative Health Research 1998, 8:341-351.
36. Reddy M, Ortony A. The conduit metaphor: a case of frame conflict in our language about language. Metaphor and Thought 1993, In, 2nd edn, , Cambridge University Press, New York
37. Reis S, Hermoni D, Van-Raalte R, Dahan R, Borkan J. Aggregation of qualitative studies - from theory to practice: patient priorities and family medicine/general practice evaluations. Patient Education and Counseling 2007, 65:214-222.
38. Reisinger PB. Experiences of critical care nurses in telephone triage positions. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing 1998, 17:20-27. *
39. Rolland E, Moore KM, Robinson VA, McGuinness D. Using Ontario's Telehealth health telephone helpline as an early-warning system: a study protocol. BMC Health Service Research 2006, 6:10.
40. Sandelowski M, Barroso J, Voils CI. Using qualitative metasummary to synthesize qualitative and quantitative descriptive findings. Research in Nursing and Health 2007, 30:99-111.
41. Severinsson E. Moral stress and burnout: qualitative content analysis. Nursing and Health Science 2003, 5:59-66.
42. Stamm BH, Perednia DA. Evaluating psychosocial aspects of telemedicine and telehealth systems. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 2000, 31:184-189.
43. Taylor P, Bain P. An assembly line in the head: work and employee relations in the call centre. Industrial Relations Journal 1999, 30:101-117.
44. Timpka T, Arborelius E. The primary care nurse's dilemmas: a study of knowledge use and need during telephone consultations. Journal of Advanced Nursing 1990, 15:1457-1465. *
45. Tjora A. The technological mediation of the nursing-medical boundary. Sociological Health and Illness 2000, 22:721-741.
46. Wahlberg AC, Cedersund E, Wredling R. Telephone nurses' experience of problems with telephone advice in Sweden. Journal of Clinical Nursing 2003, 12:37-45. *
47. Wahlberg AC, Cedersund E, Wredling R. Bases for assessments made by telephone advice nurses. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 2005, 11:403-407. *
48. Wilson R, Hubert J. Resurfacing the care in nursing by telephone: lessons from ambulatory oncology. Nursing Outlook 2002, 50:160-164.
49. Wilson K, Williams A. Visualism in community nursing: implications for telephone work with service users. Qualitative Health Research 2000, 10:507-520. *
50. The World Health Report 2006: Working Together for Health 2007, http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en, Retrieved from on 15 February 2009