title: Exploring indicators of telephone nursing quality.
abstract: To explore whether documentation, use of clinical guidelines, and nurse competency are the best indicators of quality telephone nursing, this study examined the relationship between these commonly cited indicators and the characteristics of a telephone nursing call. This study, done at a large health maintenance organization (HMO), found: accompanying symptoms played a major role in telephone nursing assessment; call length was related to documentation process and to number of visits to a health care facility after a call; nurses' interpersonal skills and ability to determine urgency of a call are related to the documentation process but not to outcomes of the call; time of a call is related to disposition; and disposition is related to number of visits after a call.
authors.affiliation: California Division Nursing Services, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Oakland, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoare
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacoste
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conyers
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004282:Documentation; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D009731:Nursing Audit; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000592:standards*; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States