title: Caller self-care decisions following teletriage advice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine caller self-care decisions following teletriage advice provided by nurses.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The use of teletriage is gaining popularity as one way of enhancing capacity for self-care. Research from several countries suggests that teletriage reduces the use of other healthcare services without compromising safety. However, there is little or no research related to how often self-care advice is provided and whether or not callers follow the advice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive survey design was used with a random sample of 312 callers who were advised by a teletriage nurse to engage in self-care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Callers were randomly selected from all calls to a teletriage service each day of the month for nine months. Data were collected using a researcher-developed interview guide and analysed using a variety of inferential statistics for forced choice questions and content analysis for open-ended questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of callers who were advised to engage in self-care reported doing so. Callers with greater self-efficacy and satisfaction with the nurse interaction were more likely to follow advice to self-care. All callers would call the teletriage service again for the same or a different issue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teletriage callers were confident in the advice provided and were willing to continue to use the service.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that teletriage programmes are a cost-effective way of addressing self-care needs of individuals who might otherwise visit an emergency department.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Beverly.williams@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Bev
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKim
authors.forename: Wonita
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Janzen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000416:Alberta; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017046:Cost Savings; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D015277:Hotlines / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012648:Self Care; D014218:Triage; D055815:Young Adult