Telephone consultations for general practice: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundThe use of information technology, including internet- and telephone-based resources, is becoming an alternative and supporting method of providing many forms of services in a healthcare and health management setting. Telephone consultations provide a promising alternative and supporting service for face-to-face general practice care. The aim of this review is to utilize a systematic review to collate evidence on the use of telephone consultation as an alternative to face-to-face general practice visits.MethodsA systematic search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform was performed using the search terms for the intervention (telephone consultation) and the comparator (general practice). Systematic reviews and randomized control trials that examined telephone consultation compared to normal face-to-face consultation in general practice were included in this review. Papers were reviewed, assessed for quality (Cochrane Collaboration’s ‘Risk of bias’ tool) and data extracted and analysed.ResultsTwo systematic reviews and one RCT were identified and included in the analysis.The RCT (N = 388) was of patients requesting same-day appointments from two general practices and patients were randomized to a same-day face-to-face appointment or a telephone call back consultation. There was a reduction in the time spent on consultations in the telephone group (1.5 min (0.6 to 2.4)) and patients in the telephone arm had 0.2 (0 to 0.3) more follow-up consultations than the face-to-face group.One systematic review focused on telephone consultation and triage on healthcare use, and included one RCT and one other observational study that examined telephone consultations. The other systematic review focused on patient access and included one RCT and four observational studies that examined telephone consultations. Both systematic reviews provided narrative interpretations of the evidence and concluded that telephone consultations provided an appropriate alternative to telephone consultations and reduced practice work load.ConclusionThere is a lack of high level evidence for telephone consultations in a GP setting; however, current evidence suggests that telephone consultations as an alternative to face-to-face general practice consultations offers an appropriate option in certain settings.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42015025225 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-017-0529-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Satisfaction of a new telephone consultation service for prenatal and postnatal health care

“…The use of internet‐based resources provides many forms of services in a healthcare setting and improves accessibility, flexibility, efficiency and satisfaction; because barriers associated with healthcare access must be utilities, transportation, time, cost and limited availability of support providers. Evidence revealed that telephone consultations provide patient‐centered realistic care, support service for face‐to‐face appropriate medical care and reduce practice workload . To date, reports of telephone consultations in prenatal and postnatal health care are lacking in Japan.…”

“…Evidence revealed that telephone consultations provide patient-centered realistic care, support service for face-to-face appropriate medical care and reduce practice workload. 12 To date, reports of telephone consultations in prenatal and postnatal health care are lacking in Japan. From this point of view, planning for the prenatal and postnatal health care program began at Nara Medical University (NMU) in spring 2017.…”

Advantages and limitations of virtual online consultations in a NHS acute trust: the VOCAL mixed-methods study

“…Telephone contact is used variably for assessment and triage of acute problems; [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] general practice consultations; [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] to offer health education; 41,42 and to offer support for those with chronic illness 43,44 or those in need of palliative care. 45 The literature on telephone consultations consists largely of small and heterogeneous primary studies, most of which had practical challenges or methodological flaws.…”

¿Va a cambiar la neurología tras la pandemia de COVID-19 en los próximos 5 años? Estudio de enfoque mediante informadores clave

“…También existe consenso en que deberá haber una reorganización de los tiempos de asistencia y búsqueda de métodos alternativos para evitar la presencia excesiva de enfermos y especialmente los neurológicos, ya que son especialmente vulnerables. Los encuestados prevén la potenciación de las consultas telefónicas que se han desarrollado ampliamente durante la pandemia (28,29 ) . Sin embargo, no parece que se generen cambios ni en la exploración clínica ni en las indicaciones de exploraciones complementarias, al menos por el especialista de Neurologia.…”