scholarly journals P004: Effect of telephone triage (811) calls on a regional poison centre

CJEM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. S64
Author(s):  
S. Alrobaian ◽  
K. Hurley ◽  
E. Fitzpatrick ◽  
L. Mosher ◽  
M. Young ◽  
...  

Introduction: Telephone Triage Services (TTS) manage phone calls from the public regarding general medical problems and provide telephone advice. This telephone based care can overlap with care provided by Poison Centres. Our objective was to examine the impact of a provincial 811 TTS on the IWK Regional Poison Centre (RPC). Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive study using interrupted time series methodology. We compared monthly IWK RPC call volume in the pre-811 era (January 2007-July 2009) and the post-811 era (September 2009-December 2017). We summarized the characteristics of callers who accessed the IWK RPC in terms of client age, sex, intentionality, time of day, call disposition and outcome. Caller characteristics were compared between the pre- and post-811 eras using chi-square test for categorical variables. We used segmented regression analysis to evaluate changes in slope of call volume in the pre- and post 811 eras. The Durbin-Watson statistic was performed to test for serial correlation and the Dickey-Fuller test to investigate seasonality. Results: The dataset included 82683 calls to the IWK RPC – 27028 pre-811 and 55655 post-811. Overall, 55% of calls were for female clients and the largest age group was children aged 0-5 years (37%). Most calls originated from home (47%), followed by a health care facility (23%). Most calls were managed at home (65%). Less than 3% of calls resulted in major effect or death. The Durbin Watson statistic was not statistically significant (p = 0.94). The Dickey-Fuller test indicated series stationarity (p = 0.001). There was no statistically significant change in call volume to the IWK RPC due to the introduction of 811 (p = 0.39). There was no significant variation by time of day, day of week or month, with most calls occurring in the evening. There were significantly more calls regarding intentional ingestions in the post-811 era (23% vs. 19% pre-811, p < .001). Outcomes in the pre and post 811 eras were as follows: minor/no effect/non-toxic/minimal 80% vs. 78%; moderate 7% vs. 10%; and, major/death 1.7% vs. 2.0%. Conclusion: The introduction of a TTS did not change call volumes at our RPC. The increase in the percentage of calls about intentional ingestions may reflect an increase in call acuity as the 811-TTS likely manages calls about minor/non-toxic ingestions without consulting with the RPC. Our future research will examine the nature of poison related calls to the 811-TTS.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Poole ◽  
Barton D. Schmitt ◽  
Thea Carruth ◽  
Ann Peterson-Smith ◽  
Minnie Slusarski

Background. After-hours telephone calls are a stressful and frustrating aspect of pediatric practice. At the request of private practice pediatricians in Denver, a metropolitan area-wide system was created to manage after-hours pediatric telephone calls and after-hours patient care. This system, the After-Hours Program (AHP), uses specially trained pediatric nurses with standardized protocols to provide after-hours telephone triage and advice for the patients of 92 Denver pediatricians, representing 56 practices. Objectives. This report describes the AHP, presents data from 4 years' experience with the program, and describes results of our evaluation of the following aspects of the program: subscribing physician satisfaction, parent satisfaction, the accuracy and appropriateness of telephone triage, and program costs. Methods. After-Hours Program records (including quality assurance data) for all 4 years of operation were retrospectively reviewed, tabulated, and analyzed. The results of two subscribing physician surveys and one parent caller satisfaction survey are presented. A retrospective review of after-hours patient care encounter forms assessed the necessity for after-hours visits triaged by the AHP. An analysis of the total cost of this program to 10 randomly selected subscribing physicians was conducted using current AHP data and a survey of the 10 physicians. Results. In 4 years, 107 938 calls have been successfully managed without an adverse clinical outcome. Minor errors in using protocols occurred in one call out of 1450 after-hours calls. After-hours phone calls necessitated an after-hours patient visit 20% of the time and generated one after-hours hospital admission out of every 88 calls. Just over half of the patients were managed with home care advice only, and 28% were given home care advice after-hours and seen the next day in the primary physician's office. Of all patients directed by the telephone triage nurses to be seen after hours, 78% were determined to have a condition necessitating after-hours care. Data are presented regarding call volumes by time of day, day of week, patient age, and patient's initial complaint. The 6 most common complaints accounted for more than one half of the calls, and 38 complaints accounted for more than 95% of all after-hours calls. Utilization by subscribing physicians is described. Satisfaction among subscribing pediatricians was 100%, and among parents was 96% to 99% on a variety of issues. The total cost to participating Denver pediatricians (which includes revenues "given up" as a result of not seeing patients after hours) ranged from 1% to 12% of their annual net income, depending on a variety of factors. Conclusions. Large-scale after-hours telephone coverage systems can be effective and well-received by patients, parents, and primary physicians. Data presented in this report can assist in planning the training of personnel who provide after-hours telephone advice and triage. Controversies associated with this type of program are discussed. Suggestions are made regarding the direction of future programs and research.


Author(s):  
Martin A. Satrio ◽  
Madeline R. Diedrichsen ◽  
Michael C. Coniglio ◽  
Sean Waugh

Abstract In this study, we present a climatology of observed cell mergers along the paths of 342 discrete, right-moving supercells and their association with temporal changes in low-level mesocyclone strength (measured using azimuthal shear). Nearly half of the examined supercells experience at least one cell merger. The frequency of cell merger occurrence varies somewhat by geographical region and the time of day. No general relationship exists between cell merger occurrence and temporal changes in low-level azimuthal shear; this corroborates prior studies in showing that the outcome of a merger is probably sensitive to storm-scale and environmental details not captured in this study. Interestingly, we find a significant inverse relationship between pre-merger azimuthal shear and the subsequent temporal evolution of azimuthal shear. In other words, stronger low-level mesocyclones are more likely to weaken after cell mergers, and weaker low-level mesocyclones are more likely to strengthen. We also show that shorter-duration cell merger “events” (comprised of multiple individual mergers) are more likely to be associated with a steady or weakening low-level mesocyclone, while longer-duration cell merger events (3–4 individual mergers) are more likely to be associated with a strengthening low-level mesocyclone. These findings suggest what physical processes may influence the outcome of a merger in different scenarios and that the impact of these processes on low-level mesocyclone strength may change depending on storm maturity. We establish a baseline understanding of the supercell-cell merger climatology and highlight areas for future research in how to better anticipate the outcomes of cell mergers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Zhu ◽  
Minqi Yang ◽  
Ying Yao ◽  
Xiao Xiong ◽  
Xiaoran Li ◽  
...  

This study investigated the impact of indoor illuminance and correlated color temperature (CCT) on healthy adults’ cognitive performance, subjective mood, and alertness during daytime office hours and differences in time-of-day effects. A 2(illuminance) × 2(CCT) × 2(morning vs. afternoon) mixed design ( N = 60) was employed. Participants felt less sleepy in the bright light exposure. The low “cool” lighting induced the least positive mood. The effects of illuminance and CCT on subjective feelings were not time-of-day dependent. The results demonstrated the slowest responses in inhibition, working memory, and recognition of facial expression tasks in the low “warm” lighting. The effect on long-term memory was most pronounced under the high “cool” light exposure, but only in the afternoon for recognition of neutral words. The findings suggest that future research on good indoor lighting should consider illuminance levels and CCT as well as other variables to optimize lighting effects during regular daytime hours.


Author(s):  
Danielle Lottridge ◽  
Mark Chignell

The impact of notifications on driving performance is a critical safety concern (Lee & Strayer, 2004). This study examined how interruptions (including phone calls) impair simulated driving performance, and how individual differences mediate the effect of those interruptions. Consistent with our hypothesis, field dependent participants answered phone calls more quickly and with less consideration of the difficulty of the current driving situation than more field independent participants. Further, a post-hoc analysis showed that, on average, field dependents with small operating spans crashed twice as often as the other drivers. Thus the detrimental effect of a field dependent style on managing interruptions while driving is likely worsened for people with low working memory capacity. It is suggested that future research should investigate the safety implications of individual differences in interruption handling ability. Such research is needed to support ongoing efforts to develop guidelines and legislation concerning the use of distracting information technologies (such as cell phones) in automobiles.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Fournier ◽  
Eleni Christofa

The value of time (VOT) is a fundamental component used in transportation modeling, policy analysis, and economic appraisal. Decades of research and practice have empirically estimated the VOT across many factors (e.g., mode, purpose, time, comfort, etc.), yet little is known about its underlying form. Although it is well established that VOT can vary, it is still unclear whether patterns exist in this variation. The objective of this paper is not to merely estimate the VOT, but to model the VOT across multiple continuous and interacting variables. The purpose is to reveal its functional form with respect to mode, age, gender, purpose, income, and time of day to provide a generalizable understanding for future research and practice. Such an understanding can help develop simpler models and reduce the need for bespoke estimations for every conceivable variable perturbation. This research utilized a household travel survey containing 14,159 reported trips with imputed travel time and costs for the alternative mode choices. The average overall estimated VOT is 40.32 $/h, with results showing VOT varying log-linearly with income and trip distance, but following a Gaussian function (normal curve) with age. Overall, the results show that travel distance dominates VOT variation, which increases exponentially at a rate that is 3.61 times higher per mile of distance than per $10,000 of income, and that VOT by age peaks at age 54. This basic understanding of how the VOT varies sets the foundation for answering the subsequent question for why it might vary.


Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132110149
Author(s):  
Philippa L Howard ◽  
Felicity Sedgewick

The communication skills and styles of autistic people have been the focus of much research, but little work has explored the communication preferences of autistic adults themselves. This study examined how autistic adults prefer to communicate in multiple scenarios. Two hundred and forty-five autistic adults completed a novel questionnaire that required six communication modes to be ranked in order of preference across seven different scenarios. Participants also provided qualitative responses to further explain their rankings, and completed the Autism Quotient, the Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale and the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire. Quantitative data indicated that email ranked highly when accessing services, seeking customer support and communicating about research. When communicating with family, friends, in employment and in education, both face-to-face and written modes (email or text message) were preferred. In the qualitative data, four main themes were identified: Not the Phone, Written Communication, Masking versus Autistic Communication and Avoiding Communication. There is a clear message that mode of communication can be either enabling or disabling for autistic people. A reliance on phone calls can create barriers to access, yet the option to adopt written forms of communication can improve accessibility. For known connections, the preference for face-to-face communication is dependent upon how close and accepting the relationship is. Lay abstract What is already known about the topic? There has been a lot of research into things like how autistic people’s communication styles are different to those of non-autistic people, especially among children. This has tended to focus on parent reports and experiments, rather than asking autistic people about their own experiences and preferences regarding communication. What does this article add? This article is the first to ask autistic adults how they prefer to communicate in different scenarios. We asked whether they preferred to use a range of methods, such email, phone calls, letters and live messaging, in scenarios from education to customer services to friends and family. When contacting unknown people or organisations, we found that generally email was preferred, and phone calls were very unpopular. However, for friends, family and people they felt comfortable with, they preferred both face-to-face and written forms of communication (e.g. email and text message). Implications for practice, research or policy The findings suggest that services should move away from a reliance on phone calls for communication. They should make sure that access to support is not dependent on the phone, and instead offer written options such as email and live messaging which are more accessible. Future research should investigate the impact of COVID-19 on autistic people’s communication preferences, as video calling has become much more commonly used and potentially combines benefits and challenges of other modes discussed in this article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.


Author(s):  
Endy Gunanto ◽  
Yenni Kurnia Gusti

In this article we present a conceptual of the effect of cross culture on consumer behavior incorporating the impact of globalization. This conceptual idea shows that culture inûuences various domains of consumer behavior directly as well as through international organization to implement marketing strategy. The conceptual identify several factors such as norm and value in the community, several variables and also depicts the impact of other environmental factors and marketing strategy elements on consumer behavior. We also identify categories of consumer culture orientation resulting from globalization. Highlights of each of the several other articles included in this special issue in Asia region. We conclude with the contributions of the articles in terms of the consumer cultural orientations and identify directions for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 651-661
Author(s):  
Joshua T. Davis ◽  
Hilary A. Uyhelji

INTRODUCTION: Although the impact of microorganisms on their hosts has been investigated for decades, recent technological advances have permitted high-throughput studies of the collective microbial genomes colonizing a host or habitat, also known as the microbiome. This literature review presents an overview of microbiome research, with an emphasis on topics that have the potential for future applications to aviation safety. In humans, research is beginning to suggest relationships of the microbiome with physical disorders, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease. The microbiome also has been associated with psychological health, including depression, anxiety, and the social complications that arise in autism spectrum disorders. Pharmaceuticals can alter microbiome diversity, and may lead to unintended consequences both short and long-term. As research strengthens understanding of the connections between the microbiota and human health, several potential applications for aerospace medicine and aviation safety emerge. For example, information derived from tests of the microbiota has potential future relevance for medical certification of pilots, accident investigation, and evaluation of fitness for duty in aerospace operations. Moreover, air travel may impact the microbiome of passengers and crew, including potential impacts on the spread of disease nationally and internationally. Construction, maintenance, and cleaning regimens that consider the potential for microbial colonization in airports and cabin environments may promote the health of travelers. Altogether, the mounting knowledge of microbiome effects on health presents several opportunities for future research into how and whether microbiome-based insights could be used to improve aviation safety.Davis JT, Uyhelji HA. Aviation and the microbiome. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(8):651–661.


Author(s):  
Dzhyhil Yu. ◽  

Residential architecture has one of the most conservative styles based on its specifics. However, today this type of architecture seeks to actively respond to changes in the modern world. These changes are caused by multiple factors, among them are: technological and information progress; lack of resources and environmental pollution; military conflicts and population migration etc. The purpose of this article is to summarize the experience of the Department of Architectural Environment of Lviv Polytechnic National University over housing issues and outline the methodological principles of innovation in designing both individual houses and the architectural environment of residential formations. While writing this article, we analyzed the 15-year experience of Architectural Environment's Department diploma projects. The unique feature of these projects is the priority on the design of the environment. The evolution of diploma project topics is revealed on multiple distinctive examples such as the reconstruction of old buildings in Lviv and the construction of prefabricated homes and container-type housing. Futuristic settlements are represented in projects such as “The Ocean Settlements” and “Prykarpatsk - the City of Future”. Research projects were developed to study current trends in housing design and the impact of innovative technologies on planning decisions. These projects discoursed the protection of housing from traffic noise and issues related to environmental preservation. Innovative architectural ideas of future housing, developed by students in these projects, are based on a combination of aesthetic, technical, and social components of architecture. The conclusion indicates that when educating future architects, it is important to teach them the basics of the craft, as well as the ability to defend their innovative ideas. The emphasis is placed on the importance of educating the architect's personal responsibility for their own design solutions. It is stated that professional motivation and the ability to constantly renew previously acquired knowledge and skills will be among the main tasks in training future architects.


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