Telephone management of febrile young children in a family practice setting.
To examine which factors are related to the telephone disposition of febrile children in a university family practice setting, telephone encounter records of a cohort of febrile young children were analyzed. No relationship was found between telephone disposition and a child's sex, age, or temperature, the latter two being well-known risk factors for occult and serious illness in febrile young children. There was a significant relationship between telephone disposition and telephone diagnosis. The lack of association between telephone disposition and either age or temperature of a child should be impetus for staff education concerning the telephone management of febrile children in this family practice.
D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013689:Telephone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*