Retrospective Study : Exploring Selected Characteristics of Telenursing Triage

Telenursing has proliferated in the past several years. Telenursing, as with any new subspecialty of nursing practice, is experiencing growing pains and uncovering problems as the practice evolves. Researchers have referred to communication during the telephone interaction as problematic related to the fact that only verbal communication is involved. There is little known about the relationship between quality of communication and the eight symptom dimensions in telenursing. A retrospective, descriptive correlational design was used to investigate selected characteristics of telenursing triage. A sample of 93 paper, computerized telenursing triage notes were audited using the Content Analysis of Quality of Communication and Selected Variables Tool designed by the researcher. The dependent variable was the communication scores from eight symptom dimensions based on the assessment phase of the nursing process. Data were analyzed for relationships among veteran age, time of day, nurses' years of experience, disposition of call, and symptom. This study described selected characteristics in telenursing triage and determined a relationship exists between quality of communication, nurses' years of experience, and call disposition.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Retrospective Study : Exploring Selected Characteristics of Telenursing Triage', published 2001 under ISBN 9781423526803 and ISBN 1423526805.