title: Nurse-led ED support for residential aged care facility staff: an evaluation study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of a nurse-led telephone support service to Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) on a range of measures relating to the transfer of acutely unwell residents to the Emergency Department (ED) of a large tertiary referral hospital in New South Wales, Australia over a 9 month period.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pre- and post-intervention design determined the impact of the telephone service, associated clinical guidelines and education. Data from 4 intervention RACFs using the nurse-led telephone service were compared with 8 control RACFs. Data included the older patient's triage category, presenting problem(s), transfer rates from RACFs, ED admissions, and overall hospital length of stay. Interviews and focus groups with staff from RACFs and EDs were conducted to ascertain their experiences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reduced presentations of older people to the ED from the 4 pilot RACFs occurred. High levels of satisfaction among staff in RACFs were reported.
authors.affiliation: The University of New England, Abbot Road, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia. Electronic address: jconway4@une.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Conway
authors.affiliation: The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.affiliation: John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England Health, HRMC, Locked Bag 1, NSW 2310, Australia.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hullick
authors.affiliation: John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England Health, HRMC, Locked Bag 1, NSW 2310, Australia.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hewitt
authors.affiliation: The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dilworth
mesh_terms: D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017144:Focus Groups; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D009517:New South Wales; D009726:Nurses / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000639:trends
keywords: Emergency department; Health services for the aged; Nursing homes; Nursing roles; Older people; Service redesign; Telephone support