TELEPHONE CONSULTATIONS AT THE EMERGENCY SERVICE, COPENHAGEN COUNTY -ANALYSIS OF DOCTOR-PATIENT COMMUNICATION PATTERNS

Background. Experience from 10 telephone consultation courses in 1995, arranged for the emergency service in Copenhagen County, has demonstr ated that this type of communication requires specific skills on the d octor's part, especially because the doctor cannot see the patient, pa tients are frequently in some sort of 'crisis' and, on the basis of li mited information, the doctor in charge has to arrive at a prompt diag nosis in order to advise or refer the patient. Methods. Using video-su pervised role-play we compiled and organized the experience of 152 doc tors. During the courses we developed principles to help doctors to op timize the information output and reliability of their telephone consu ltations. The doctors playing their 'patients' 'role had the opportuni ty to experience the situation from the patient's point of view and we re later able to give the 'doctor' valuable feed-back. Results and con clusions. This 'experimental consultation procedure' constitutes a new research method, at the interface between educational and traditional scientific research. The process in question is a feed-back one, in w hich findings can be applied and tested instantly, or with little dela y, to produce new results. These can be put to use in practical clinic al work and tested in new 'laboratory experiments'.