Table 1 Synthesis of data collected from the questionnaire (caller, call recipient, patient age, reasons of calls, and degree of emergency)
TOTAL (n = 4,137) | Call for advice (n = 2,657) | Call for hospital admission (n = 1,480) | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
Caller | 0.044 | |||
General practitioner | 3,182 (76.9) | 2,075 (78.1) | 1,107 (74.8) | |
Hospital physician | 417 (10.1) | 259 (9.7) | 158 (10.7) | |
Other (e.g. retirement home) | 538 (13.0) | 323 (12.2) | 215 (14.5) | |
Hotline responding physician | 0.081 | |||
Assistant physisican | 1170 (29.3) | 727 (28.4) | 443 (31.0) | |
Hospital physician | 2818 (70.7) | 1833 (71.6) | 985 (69.0) | |
Reason for calling | - | |||
Advice | 1115 (27.0) | 1115 (42.0) | 0 (0) | |
Emergency department hospitalisation | 54 (1.3) | 0 (0) | 54 (3.6) | |
Emergency geriatric department hospitalisation | 1426 (34.5) | 0 (0) | 1426 (96.4) | |
Consultation request | 99 (2.4) | 99 (3.7) | 0 (0) | |
Deferred hospitalization | 1443 (34.9) | 1443 (54.3) | 0 (0) | |
Age (median(interquartile)) | 87 (8) | 87 (8) | 87 (8) | 0.470 |
Degree of emergency perceived by the hotline physician (mean(SD)) | 6 (3) | 5 (3) | 7 (2) | < 0.001 |
Degree of emergency perceived by the calling physician (mean(SD)) | 6 (3) | 5 (3) | 8 (2) | < 0.001 |