Primary care telephone consultations: are they justified?

Primary care telephone calls to the paediatrician have increased greatly in the last few years. The number of patients requesting immediate attention to clear up any doubts they have is always increasing. A telephone call is an immediate, easily accessible way that may often save visits to the health centre. We analysed all calls made to our Primary Healthcare Centre’s paediatric service during 2 months. A total of 109 calls were received what makes up 3.6% of the care provided. Patient’s doubts were solved in 84.4% of cases. Patients rated the service received by the professional who answered the calls at an average of 9.4. This system, in general, advices, informs and classifies those cases that require urgent medical attention. Telephone consultations avoid a high percentage of unnecessary visits to the Primary Healthcare Centre, benefiting both the doctor and the patient.