Omvårdnad per telefon : Intressenters syn och förståelsefrån ett pediatrik- och ett genusperspektiv

‘First line healthcare’ is offered via telephone in many Western countries. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe Telephone Nursing (TN) from three viewpoints: telenurses, parents calling for their children, and operation managers. Four empirical studies were conducted. Telenurses described their work in five different ways: ‘Assess, refer and give advice to the caller’, ‘Support the caller’, ‘Strengthen the caller’, ‘Teach the caller’ and ‘Facilitate the caller’s learning’, which all constitute a TN ‘work map’. Authentic paediatric calls between parents and telenurses revealed that 73% of callers were mothers and children were aged between 5 days and 14.5 years. The top three contact reasons were ear and skin problems, and fever, with a median call length of 4.4 minutes. More than half of the calls resulted in referrals and 48% received self-care advice. The likelihood of fathers being given referrals as a result of their call was almost twice as high as that for mothers, while mothers were almost twice as likely to receive self-care advice as fathers. Parents described their degree of worry and trust that influenced their decisions whether to contact SHD or not. Their calls were carefully prepared, and the parent calling often depended on family routine. Parents reported to follow recommendations. Most relied upon their own intuition if further worried, but some indicated they would never seek healthcare unless it was recommended. Operation managers described four main goals of TN work: ‘create feelings of trust’, ‘achieve patient safety’, ‘assess, refer and give advice’, and ‘teach the caller’. Equitable healthcare was regarded as important, whereas health promotion was not considered as part of the goals. Conclusion: The studied TN viewpoints present concordance and discrepancies. Paediatric health calls appear mostly to be a woman-to-woman activity. Telenurses’ increased gender competence might increase TN safety. For that matter, telenurses’ collaboration with parents and making parents aware of holding the ultimate responsibility for their child’s condition is important. Goals of TN work and their relationship with healthcare obligations such as equitable healthcare and health promotion need further clarification. The viewpoints described in this thesis may contribute to the development of TN

Omvårdnad per telefon : Intressenters syn och förståelsefrån ett pediatrik- och ett genusperspektiv

‘First line healthcare’ is offered via telephone in many Western countries. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe Telephone Nursing (TN) from three viewpoints: telenurses, parents calling for their children, and operation managers. Four empirical studies were conducted. Telenurses described their work in five different ways: ‘Assess, refer and give advice to the caller’, ‘Support the caller’, ‘Strengthen the caller’, ‘Teach the caller’ and ‘Facilitate the caller’s learning’, which all constitute a TN ‘work map’. Authentic paediatric calls between parents and telenurses revealed that 73% of callers were mothers and children were aged between 5 days and 14.5 years. The top three contact reasons were ear and skin problems, and fever, with a median call length of 4.4 minutes. More than half of the calls resulted in referrals and 48% received self-care advice. The likelihood of fathers being given referrals as a result of their call was almost twice as high as that for mothers, while mothers were almost twice as likely to receive self-care advice as fathers. Parents described their degree of worry and trust that influenced their decisions whether to contact SHD or not. Their calls were carefully prepared, and the parent calling often depended on family routine. Parents reported to follow recommendations. Most relied upon their own intuition if further worried, but some indicated they would never seek healthcare unless it was recommended. Operation managers described four main goals of TN work: ‘create feelings of trust’, ‘achieve patient safety’, ‘assess, refer and give advice’, and ‘teach the caller’. Equitable healthcare was regarded as important, whereas health promotion was not considered as part of the goals. Conclusion: The studied TN viewpoints present concordance and discrepancies. Paediatric health calls appear mostly to be a woman-to-woman activity. Telenurses’ increased gender competence might increase TN safety. For that matter, telenurses’ collaboration with parents and making parents aware of holding the ultimate responsibility for their child’s condition is important. Goals of TN work and their relationship with healthcare obligations such as equitable healthcare and health promotion need further clarification. The viewpoints described in this thesis may contribute to the development of TN

Omvårdnad per telefon : Intressenters syn och förståelsefrån ett pediatrik- och ett genusperspektiv

‘First line healthcare’ is offered via telephone in many Western countries. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe Telephone Nursing (TN) from three viewpoints: telenurses, parents calling for their children, and operation managers. Four empirical studies were conducted. Telenurses described their work in five different ways: ‘Assess, refer and give advice to the caller’, ‘Support the caller’, ‘Strengthen the caller’, ‘Teach the caller’ and ‘Facilitate the caller’s learning’, which all constitute a TN ‘work map’. Authentic paediatric calls between parents and telenurses revealed that 73% of callers were mothers and children were aged between 5 days and 14.5 years. The top three contact reasons were ear and skin problems, and fever, with a median call length of 4.4 minutes. More than half of the calls resulted in referrals and 48% received self-care advice. The likelihood of fathers being given referrals as a result of their call was almost twice as high as that for mothers, while mothers were almost twice as likely to receive self-care advice as fathers. Parents described their degree of worry and trust that influenced their decisions whether to contact SHD or not. Their calls were carefully prepared, and the parent calling often depended on family routine. Parents reported to follow recommendations. Most relied upon their own intuition if further worried, but some indicated they would never seek healthcare unless it was recommended. Operation managers described four main goals of TN work: ‘create feelings of trust’, ‘achieve patient safety’, ‘assess, refer and give advice’, and ‘teach the caller’. Equitable healthcare was regarded as important, whereas health promotion was not considered as part of the goals. Conclusion: The studied TN viewpoints present concordance and discrepancies. Paediatric health calls appear mostly to be a woman-to-woman activity. Telenurses’ increased gender competence might increase TN safety. For that matter, telenurses’ collaboration with parents and making parents aware of holding the ultimate responsibility for their child’s condition is important. Goals of TN work and their relationship with healthcare obligations such as equitable healthcare and health promotion need further clarification. The viewpoints described in this thesis may contribute to the development of TN

Swedish Healthcare Direct managers' views on gender (in)equity - Applying a conceptual model

Background: Although Swedish legislation prescribes equity in healthcare, inequitable healthcare is repeatedly reported in Sweden. Telephone nursing is suggested to promote equitable healthcare, making it just one call away for anyone, at any time, irrespective of distance. However, paediatric health calls reflect that male parents are referred to other health services twice as much as female parents are. Regarding equity in healthcare, telephone nurses have expressed a continuum from Denial and Defence to Openness and Awareness. To make a change, Action is also needed, within organizational frames. The aim here was thus to investigate Swedish Healthcare Direct managers’ views on gender (in)equity in healthcare through the application of a conceptual model, developed based on empirical Swedish Healthcare Direct telephone RN data, as a baseline measure at the service’s national implementation. Methods: All Swedish Healthcare Direct managers were interviewed during the period March–May 2012. They were asked how they view equitable healthcare, and how they work to achieve it. A conceptual model for attaining equity in healthcare, including Denial, Defence, Openness, Awareness and Action, was used in a deductive thematic analysis of the interview data. Results: The five model concepts – Denial; Defence; Openness; Awareness and Action – were found in a variety of combinations in the manager interviews. Denial and Defence were mentioned to a higher extent than Openness and Awareness. Several informants denied inequity, arguing that the decision support tool prevented this. However, those who primarily expressed Denial and Defence were also open to learning more on the subject. Action was only mentioned twice in the informants’ answers, and then only implicitly. Conclusion: Although a majority of the interviewed managers expressed a lack of awareness of (in)equity in healthcare, they also expressed an openness to learning more. While this may reflect a desire to show political correctness, it also points to the need for educational training in order to increase the awareness of (in)equity in healthcare among healthcare managers. Future follow up measurements will reveal if this has happened

Liver cirrhosis turns life into an unpredictable roller-coaster : A qualitative interview study

Aim: To explore how persons living with liver cirrhosis experience day-to-day life. Background: Liver cirrhosis is the sixth most common cause of death among adults in Western countries. Persons with advanced liver cirrhosis report poor quality of life, in comparison with other chronic diseases. However, knowledge regarding day-to-day life during earlier stages of the disease is lacking. In other chronic diseases, the suffering process is well explored, while in liver cirrhosis suffering is insufficiently investigated. Design: An exploratory study, with a qualitative inductive interview approach. Methods: A purposive maximum variation sample of 20 informants with liver cirrhosis aged 25-71, from two gastroenterology outpatient clinics in mid-Sweden, were interviewed from September 2016 to October 2017. Interview data were analysed inductively with qualitative content analysis. Reporting followed the COREQ guidelines. Results: The experiences of day-to-day life living with liver cirrhosis comprised four sub-themes. Living with liver cirrhosis implied varying levels of deterioration, the most apparent being exhaustion or tiredness. The informants had to find ways of adapting to a new life situation. The insecurity of future health evoked existential reflections such as feeling emotionally and existentially distressed. Shame and guilt were reasons for feeling stigmatised. These sub-themes emerged into one overarching theme of meaning: life turns into an unpredictable roller-coaster. This is based on experiences of liver cirrhosis as an unpredictable disease with fluctuating symptoms, worries and disease progression. Conclusion: Living with cirrhosis implies an unpredictable condition with a progressive, stigmatising disease. The fluctuating symptoms and deep concerns about future life pose an increased personal suffering. Relevance to clinical practice: Within healthcare, knowledge of the person's experience is vital to enable and fulfil the person's healthcare needs. Clinical registered nurses need a person-centred approach to strengthen their patients to cope with their new life situation

Impact of telephone nursing education program for equity in healthcare

BACKGROUND: The Swedish Healthcare Act prescribes that healthcare should be provided according to needs and with respect for each person's human dignity. The goal is equity in health for the whole population. In spite of this, studies have revealed that Swedish healthcare is not always provided equally. This has also been observed in telephone nursing. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate if and how an educational intervention can improve awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. METHODS: The study had a quasi-experimental design, with one intervention group and one control group. A base-line measurement was performed before an educational intervention and a follow-up measurement was made afterwards in both groups, using a study specific questionnaire in which fictive persons of different age, gender and ethnicity were assessed concerning, e.g., power over one's own life, quality of life and experience of discrimination. The educational intervention consisted of a web-based lecture, literature and a seminar, covering aspects of inequality in healthcare related to gender, age and ethnicity, and gender and intersectionality theories as explaining models for these conditions. RESULTS: The results showed few significant differences before and after the intervention in the intervention group. Also in the control group few significant differences were found in the second measurement, although no intervention was performed in that group. The reason might be that the instrument used was not sensitive enough to pick up an expected raised awareness of equity in healthcare, or that solely the act of filling out the questionnaire can create a sort of intervention effect. Fictive persons born in Sweden and of young age were assessed to have a higher Good life-index than the fictive persons born outside Europe and of higher age in all assessments. CONCLUSION: The results are an imperative that equity in healthcare still needs to be educated and discussed in different healthcare settings. The intervention and questionnaire were designed to fit telephone nurses, but could easily be adjusted to suit other professional groups, who need to increase their awareness of equity in healthcare

The perspectives of Swedish registered nurses about managing difficult calls to emergency medical dispatch centres : a qualitative descriptive study

Background Telephone triage at emergency medical dispatch centres is often challenging for registered nurses due to lack of visual cues, lack of knowledge about the patient, and time pressure - and making the right decision can be a matter of life and death. Some calls may be more difficult to handle, and more knowledge is needed about these calls to develop education and coping strategies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the perspectives of registered nurses' views about managing difficult calls to emergency medical dispatch centres. Methods A descriptive design with a qualitative inductive approach was used. Three dispatch centers in mid-Sweden were investigated, covering about 950,000 inhabitants and handling around 114,000 calls per year. Individual interviews were carried out with a purposeful sample of 24 registered nurses. Systematic text condensation was conducted. Results Seven themes were generated: calls with communication barriers, calls from agitated or rude callers, calls about psychiatric illness, calls from third parties, calls about rare or unclear situations, calls with unknown addresses and calls regarding immediate life-threatening conditions. There was a strong consensus among the registered nurses about which calls were experienced as difficult, with the exception of calls about immediate life-threatening conditions. Some registered nurses thought calls about immediate life-threatening conditions were easy to handle as they simply adhered to protocol, while others described these calls as difficult and were emotionally affected. Conclusion The registered nurses' descriptions of difficult calls focused on the callers, while their own role, the organisational framework, and leadership were not mentioned. Many types of calls included difficulties, which could be related to the caller, their symptoms, or different circumstances. The registered nurses pointed to language barriers and rude, agitated callers as increasing problems. An investigation of actual emergency calls is warranted to examine the extent and nature of such calls

Registered Nurses' experiences of using a clinical decision support system for triage of emergency calls : A qualitative interview study

Objectives To describe how Registered Nurses make use of a Clinical Decision Support System to triage calls to emergency medical dispatch centres, from the perspective of professional autonomy.DesignThe study had a descriptive design with a qualitative inductive approach. Methods Interviews were done with 24 Registered Nurses during 2018–2019. Thematic analysis was conducted. Results Five themes and 16 subthemes were established: (a) Using the CDSS as a general support to professional competence in emergency calls, including subthemes: Support for professional competence, an aid to reflection, a compulsory support; (b) A specific support useful in difficult situations and calls, with subthemes: RN being tired or stressed out; vague and unclear symptoms, rare situations, aggressive and agitated callers; (c) Using the CDSS but changing triage recommendations/priority, including subthemes: Recommending a higher priority than the CDSS and recommending a lower priority than the CDSS; (d) Development areas for better use of the CDSS in collaboration with other services, with subthemes: Request for common documentation system with ambulances and closer collaboration with the national telephone nursing helpline; and (e) Possible technical development areas in the CDSS for optimal use, including subthemes: image transfer, medical records, development of certain areas in the CDSS, update of maps, a need for more knowledge. Conclusion The CDSS was not perceived as a restriction on professional autonomy. It was particularly useful in rare situations. Technical improvements as well as education and training should be done in close collaboration with registered nurses. Impact The study contributes with knowledge about how registered nurses triaging emergency calls use a decision support system. The system was a support for professional competence and did not seem to restrict them. The findings could be useful for clinicians and researchers in development of telephone triage and decision support systems

Patient perceived quality of cirrhosis care – adjunctive nurse-based care versus standard medical care : a pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled study

Background Cirrhosis treatment implies prevention and alleviation of serious disease events. Healthcare providers may, however, fail to meet patients’ expectations of collaboration and specific needs of information and support. Individualised nursing care could meet patients’ needs. The aim was thus to measure patient-perceived quality of care after adjunctive registered nurse-based intervention Quality Liver Nursing Care Model (QLiNCaM) compared with standard medical care. Methods This pragmatic multicentre study consecutively randomised patients to either adjunctive registered nurse-based care, or standard medical care for 24 months (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02957253). Patients were allocated to either group at an equal ratio, at six Swedish outpatient clinics during 2016–2022. Using the questionnaire ‘Quality of care from the patient’s perspective’, patients rated their perceived lack of quality for the adjunctive registered nurse-based intervention compared with the control group at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Results In total, 167 patients were recruited. Seven out of 22 items in the questionnaire supported the finding that ‘lacking quality’ decreased with adjunctive registered nurse-based care (p < 0.05) at 12 months follow-up; however, these differences could not be established at 24 months. Conclusion Additional structured registered nurse-based visits in the cirrhosis outpatient team provided support for improved patient-perceived quality of care during the first 12 months. Registered nurses increase patient involvement and present easy access to cirrhosis outpatient care. Patients express appreciation for personalised information. This study reinforces registered nurses’ role in the outpatient cirrhosis team, optimising patient care in compensated and decompensated cirrhosis

Telephone nurses' perceived stress, self-efficacy and empathy in their work with frequent callers.

AIM: To examine telephone nurses' perceived stress, self-efficacy and empathy in their work with answering calls from frequent callers. DESIGN: The study is a quantitative questionnaire survey study with a comparative design. METHODS: Telephone nurses (N = 199) answered a survey containing three instruments: Perceived Stress Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale and Jefferson's Scale of Empathy. Correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance were performed to test the research questions. RESULTS: Significant negative correlations were found between stress involving calls from FCs and self-efficacy (r = -.238), and significant negative correlations between stress involving calls from frequent callers and empathy (r = -.185). It was further revealed that telephone nurses who had worked less than 30 years scored higher on Jefferson's Scale of empathy than those who had worked more than 30 years, F(1, 183) = 4.98, η2  = 0.027