Patient care encounters with the MCHL: a questionnaire study

Background: Both internationally and nationally, the medical care help line (MCHL) is a growing operation within the healthcare field. In Sweden, approximately 5 million calls per year are processed. The service is managed by specially trained nurses.

Aim: To describe how patients' sex, age, education level and care level influenced their perceptions of care encounters with the MCHL.

Methodological design and instrument: A questionnaire was designed through the operationalisation of terms based on a previous interview study with MCHL callers. It was distributed to 858 callers in a region of southwest Sweden. The questionnaire was comprised of 14 visual analogue scales (VAS). Validity and reliability were determined to be acceptable by a pilot study and factor analyses.

Results: Response frequency n = 517 (60.4 %). Three factors, interaction, service and product, emerged to describe high satisfaction with the MCHL from different perspectives. The items 'friendliness', 'respect', 'confirmation', 'accessibility' and 'simplicity' scored highest, whereas the 'joint decision-making', 'composure' and 'time' items had the lowest values.

Conclusions and relevance to clinical nursing: A new questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability was created on the basis of an interview study examining patient encounters with the MCHL. The new questionnaire may provide useful support in the education of MCHL nurses and other nurses in telephone triage. It can also be used for quality development and as a basis for further research on telephone nursing.