Nurses have become increasingly involved in providing telephone assessment and advice, and telephone triage is emerging as an important part of the everyday role that nurses can play in A&E, general practice and other community settings. This article describes a project to prepare staff to fulfil this role

Although lack of documentation means that few departments are able to quantify their telephone workload, it is thought that in A&E departments, approximately 3 to 5 per cent of patient contacts occur over the phone (Crouch et al 1996a, Srinivas et al 1996). Such calls are usually answered by nurses who assess patients’ needs and may provide advice for self care, prompt the caller to seek immediate medical attention or refer the patient to another healthcare professional or agency. There is considerable scope to expand telephone advice as a means of managing A&E demand, workload and waiting times.