An investigational study on telephone calls to the pediatric nursing unit

외래 및 퇴원환아 부모의 전화상담요구와 간호중재에 대한 조사연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of the need of telephone call and to identify the status of nursing intervention through telephone. Head nurses of the pediatric nursing unit and a nurse of pediatric outpatient clinic wrote down the telephone record of calls by parents of children discharged from hospital from 7 am to 3 pm during the period of March to June, 1995. Content of 120 telephone calls but for 26 calls with incomplete record among 146 calls were analyzed into frequency of general characteristics, needs and nursing intervention. The needs of telephone call were identified and classified into 11 areas and analyzed into frequency of detailed content by 11 areas. Nursing intervention was identified and classified into 10 categories, and analyzed into frequency of detailed content by 10 categories. The findings of this study were as follows ; The need of telephone call was identified with nutritional state, medication, vital signs, language retardation, personal hygiene, vaccination, administration procedure, physical symptoms, follow up care management and others. The most frequent needs were physical symptoms and vaccination. A kind of food among nutrition dose of drugs among medication, fever among vital signs, cough among physical symptoms, and content of vaccination among vaccination was the most frequent needs. Nursing intervention through telephone was identified with instruction, knowledge offer, information offer, judgement, solicitation, referral and instruction, referral, connection, reassurance, reservation, and regulation. Instruction, knowledge offer and information offer was the most frequent nursing intervention by telephone call. Instruction was about a visit to hospital, a visit to nearby clinic, instruction about symptoms,, instruction about nursing care procedure, retelephoning and vaccination. Knowledge offer was about vaccination, knowledge related to medication, and dental care. Information offer and judgement was about vaccination and medication. Referral and instruction delivery was about instruction delivery following consultation to doctor, visit to emergency room and a visit to hospital following consultation to doctor. These results suggest that telephone call intervention program should be established as a field of extended pediatric nursing role in health care delivery system for the children.