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PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 5 November 2003, pp. 1083-1087

Use of a Telephone Nursing Line in a Pediatric Neurology Clinic: One Approach to the Shortage of Subspecialists

Megan A. Letourneau^*, Daune L. MacGregor, MD^*, Paul T. Dick, MDCM, E. J. McCabe, RN^*, Anita J. Allen, RN^*, Valerie W. Chan, RN^*, Lynn J. MacMillan, RN^* and Meredith R. Golomb, MD

^* Division of Neurology
Pediatric Outcomes Research Team and Division of Pediatric Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children and The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana

Objective. There are not enough pediatric neurologists to meet the many needs of pediatric neurology patients. The Hospital for Sick Children has responded by expanding the nursing role in the pediatric neurology outpatient clinic. The objective of this study was to examine the use of a telephone nursing line in this hospital-based pediatric neurology clinic.

Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed on all telephone call records collected during a 2-week study period. Each initial incoming call concerning a patient was counted as an index call. Associations between clinic type or diagnosis and length of telephone calls were assessed using the ² test.

Results. A total of 208 index calls were received, generating a total of 597 incoming and outgoing calls. The most common clinic types were Epilepsy clinic (35.6%) and General Neurology clinic (32.7%), and the most common patient diagnoses were epilepsy (63.5%) and developmental delay (45.2%). Most patients were between the ages of 1 and <7 years (33.9%) and 12 and <18 years (32.8%) and male (55.2%). Most calls were made by mothers (57.2%) to ask about medical administrative issues (28.4%) and/or symptoms (27.9%). Physicians were notified for 47.1% of calls; nurses were twice as likely to notify physicians for calls concerning new symptoms (relative risk: 2.1; 95% confidence interval: 1.6–2.7). Most calls required between 1 and 5 minutes (49.0%). Long telephone calls (>10 minutes) were strongly associated with a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Conclusions. There is a high demand for the neurology nursing line in our clinic. Most telephone calls and most long telephone calls concerned patients with epilepsy. Nurses managed more than half of all telephone calls without physician assistance. Use of a nursing line can aid in the provision of care to complicated subspecialty patients. Additional strategies are needed to optimize delivery of care to high-need medical populations.

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Key Words: telemedicine • telephone triage • telephone advice • telephone • nursing • management • neurology • pediatric neurology

Abbreviations: HSC, Hospital for Sick Children • CI, confidence interval • ED, emergency department

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Received for publication Dec 16, 2002; Accepted Mar 26, 2003.

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