ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on parents’ use and experiences
of general practitioner (GP) out-of-hours (OOHs) services in Ireland. The
progress in the establishment of GP OOHs services is considered by the Health
Service Executive (HSE) to be a highly significant quality initiative for
patient care, and the health service as a whole. Outside of normal GP surgery
hours, parents of children can call a dedicated telephone number, to have their
urgent health concerns assessed and to be advised about the appropriate level
of care. Experienced nurses, who are often based in a GP OOHs centre, assess
the call over the telephone and provide advice to the callers. The spur for
conducting this study arose from my personal and professional experience which,
I believe, underscores the need for exploring and understanding parents’ views
of GP OOHs services, in order to bring about change in nurses’ practice of
delivering advice over the telephone. The overall aim of the study is to
explore and understand the views of parents of children, aged two years and
under, following telephone advice received from nurses in the context of a GP
out-of-hours service. A qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive design was used to examine the views and
experiences of parents of children aged two years and under, who used a GP out-of-hours
service provider in Ireland. Nine parents who had received phone advice from a
nurse were purposively sampled to take part in the study. Data were collected
using semi-structured interviews by telephone. Data were transcribed and
analysed thematically. Themes included parents’ perceptions of illness in
children with the need to be heard, parents’ views about accessibility to GP
OOHs, parents’ expectations that the service would offer guidance and
reassurance, parents’ satisfaction with the nurse’s advice, and parents’
experiences of hospital emergency departments (EDs). Suggestions for improving
the GP OOHs service were made across these themes. The suggestions include:
higher staffing levels, wanting a quicker call back, preference for face-to-face
assessment over telephone advice and a preference for a children’s area in the
GP OOHs. The study revealed that parents are satisfied with the GP OOHs service
and the parental decision-making model has the potential to provide an
opportunity to continue the progress of the establishment of GP OOHs services
in Ireland.