The quality, safety and governance of telephone triage and advice services - an overview of evidence from systematic reviews.

Background: Telephone triage and advice services (TTAS) are increasingly being implemented around the world. These services allow people to speak to a nurse or general practitioner over the telephone and receive assessment and healthcare advice. There is an existing body of research on the topic of TTAS, however the diffuseness of the evidence base makes it difficult to identify key lessons that are consistent across the literature.

Service provider perceptions of transitioning from audio to video capability in a telehealth system: a qualitative evaluation.

Background: Telephone consultation and triage services are increasingly being used to deliver health advice. Availability of high speed internet services in remote areas allows healthcare providers to move from telephone to video telehealth services. Current approaches for assessing video services have limitations.

Compliance with telephone triage advice among adults aged 45 years and older: an Australian data linkage study.

Background: Middle-aged and older patients are prominent users of telephone triage services for timely access to health information and appropriate referrals. Non-compliance with advice to seek appropriate care could potentially lead to poorer health outcomes among those patients. It is imperative to assess the extent to which middle-aged and older patients follow triage advice and how this varies according to their socio-demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics as well as features of the call.

Emergency Department Attendance after Telephone Triage: A Population-Based Data Linkage Study.

Objective: To investigate compliance with telephone helpline advice to attend an emergency department (ED) and the acuity of patients who presented to ED following a call.

Data Sources/collection Methods: In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, 2009-2012, all (1.04 million) calls to a telephone triage service, ED presentations, hospital admissions and death registrations, linked using probabilistic data linkage.

Medication-related calls received by a national telenursing triage and advice service in Australia: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Telenursing triage and advice services are increasingly being used to deliver health advice. Medication-related queries are common, however little research has explored the medication-related calls made to these services. The aim of this study was to examine the profile of medication-related calls to a national telenursing triage and advice service and the medications involved.

Medication-related queries received for 'after hours GP helpline' - Comparison of callers' intentions with GPs' advice.

Background: Limited studies have explored the actual usage of the 'after hours GP helpline' (AGPH).

Objective: The objectives of the article are to describe medication-related calls to the AGPH and compare callers' original intentions versus the advice provided by the general practitioner (GP).

Methods: We performed a detailed descriptive statistical analysis of medication-related queries received by the AGPH in 2014.

Evaluation of Web-Based Consumer Medication Information: Content and Usability of 4 Australian Websites.

Background: Medication is the most common intervention in health care, and written medication information can affect consumers' medication-related behavior. Research has shown that a large proportion of Australians search for medication information on the Internet.

Objective: To evaluate the medication information content, based on consumer medication information needs, and usability of 4 Australian health websites: Better Health Channel, myDr, healthdirect, and NPS MedicineWise .

Healthdirect's After Hours GP Helpline - A Survey of Patient Satisfaction with the Service and Compliance with Advice.

The after hours GP helpline (AGPH), one of the key services provided by Healthdirect, is an extension of the existing healthdirect telephone nurse triage and advice service. It provides access to telephone health advice by GPs after hours to patients/callers who are triaged by the telephone nurse as needing to see a GP immediately, within four hours or within 24 hours. The aims of this study were to assess patient satisfaction with the AGPH service and compliance with the GP advice; and to investigate factors associated with patients' compliance.

Improving patient safety: the comparative views of patient-safety specialists, workforce staff and managers.

Introduction: Methods for improving patient safety are predicated on cooperation between healthcare groups, but are the views of health professionals involved in promoting safety shared by other healthcare workforce staff and managers?

Aim: To compare patient-safety suggestions from health workforce managerial and staff groups with those of patient-safety specialists.

Method: Samples of managers (424) and staff (1214) in the South Australian state health system and 131 Australian patient-safety specialists were asked to write suggestions for improving patient safety. Group responses were content analysed and compared.

Health service accreditation as a predictor of clinical and organisational performance: a blinded, random, stratified study.

Background: Despite the widespread use of accreditation in many countries, and prevailing beliefs that accreditation is associated with variables contributing to clinical care and organisational outcomes, little systematic research has been conducted to examine its validity as a predictor of healthcare performance.

Objective: To determine whether accreditation performance is associated with self-reported clinical performance and independent ratings of four aspects of organisational performance.

Design: Independent blinded assessment of these variables in a random, stratified sample of health service organisations.

Distributed leadership to mobilise capacity for accreditation research.

Purpose: Inquiries into healthcare organisations have highlighted organisational or system failure, attributed to poor responses to early warning signs. One response, and challenge, is for professionals and academics to build capacity for quality and safety research to provide evidence for improved systems. However, such collaborations and capacity building do not occur easily as there are many stakeholders.

A prospective, multi-method, multi-disciplinary, multi-level, collaborative, social-organisational design for researching health sector accreditation [LP0560737].

Background: Accreditation has become ubiquitous across the international health care landscape. Award of full accreditation status in health care is viewed, as it is in other sectors, as a valid indicator of high quality organisational performance. However, few studies have empirically demonstrated this assertion.

Decentralised management structures - the physiotherapy experience at John Hunter Hospital.

In response to the increasingly competitive and demanding health environment, many Australian hospitals have implemented, or are considering, the implementation of organisational forms and management practices which call for the decentralisation of allied health services. From its early development, the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle was planned to have a decentralised structure. In response to inquiries from many allied health professionals in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, this paper discusses the difficulties experienced by physiotherapists working in this decentralised management structure and the rationale behind the decision to withdraw from such a structure and to form a centralised professional department.