Telenurses' experiences of monitoring calls to parents of children with gastroenteritis

Evaluation of healthcare professionals' experiences of taking telephone calls from parents of children with congenital heart disease. A risky business

The Congenital Heart Disease Standards for England indicate that parents and children should have access to a 24-h telephone advice service, however, little is known about existing services. This paper presents phase two of a mixed-methods service evaluation, which aimed to evaluate staff experiences of telephone communication with these parents. All nursing and support staff in a single specialist children's cardiac surgical centre were invited to participate in an online survey during July-November 2019. Data were descriptively and thematically analysed. Participants (N = 39) were predominantly nurses (n = 32, 82%) with 64.1% (n = 25) working in the speciality >10 years. Positive experiences included: signposting and preventing further deterioration; supporting families to get expert advice quickly; providing reassurance. Challenging experiences included: offering advice without being able to see the child, dealing with telephone calls alongside busy workload; and parents running out of medications and telephoning out of hours. In conclusion, taking telephone calls were perceived to be time consuming and are potentially high risk. A standardised approach to assessment, intervention and documentation was deemed necessary. Implementation of an updated parental early warning tool was recommended, along with staff and parental education.

The telephone nursing dialogue process: an integrative review

BACKGROUND

Telephone nursing involves triage, advice, and care management provided by a nurse over the telephone. The telephone nursing dialogue process has been used clinically in telephone nursing in Sweden for several years to structure the communication and ensure a safe assessment and advice. Studies are needed to determine whether there is sufficient scientific evidence to support the method.

AIM

To describe the scientific basis of the phases of the telephone nursing dialogue process.

DESIGN

This was an integrative review.

METHODS

The literature searches were performed in August 2023, in the PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and SwePUB databases. Sixty-two articles were included. Data was sorted deductively according to the five phases of the telephone nursing dialogue process and categorized inductively to form subcategories describing the content of each phase.

RESULT

All five phases in the telephone nursing dialogue process were supported by a range of articles (n = 32-50): Opening (n = 32), Listening (n = 45), Analysing (n = 50), Motivating (n = 48), and Ending (n = 35). During the opening of the call, the nurse presents herself, welcomes the caller and establishes a caring relationship. In the listening phase, the nurse invites the caller to tell their story, listens actively and confirms understanding. During the analyzing phase, the nurse gathers, assesses, and verifies information. In the motivating phase, the nurse reaches a final assessment, informs the caller, gives advice and creates a mutual agreement and understanding while supporting the caller. Ultimately, the nurse ends the call after checking for mutual agreement and understanding, giving safety-net advice, deciding on whether to keep monitoring the caller and rounding off the call.

CONCLUSION

The phases of the telephone nursing dialogue process as described in the scientific literature are well aligned with the theoretical descriptions of the telephone nursing dialogue process.