PEDIATRIC TELEPHONE ADVICE - A NEW MEDICAL-SERVICE IN ISRAEL

Although controversy still exists about dispensing medical advice over the telephone, such services are widely offered by pediatricians in t he USA. In Israel, however, such services have not yet been developed. In a joint project of the Moked Keshev (a private medical help line) at Magen David Adorn (national ambulance service) and the Children's M edical Center of Israel, the first pediatric telephone advice service in Israel was established. In this study we analyzed 512 consecutive i ncoming calls received during the first 11 months of service operation . Of these, 42% of calls concerned children in the 1 month to 1 year a ge group. Unexpectedly, calls were almost evenly distributed throughou t the week with a slight decrease on Fridays and Saturdays (sabbath), and 45.7% of the calls were received during the morning shift. The thr ee most common reasons for contact were: of a general nature such as f ever (23%), gastrointestinal problems (19%), and medical questions (18 %). In only 20.7% of the cases were the patients advised to go to the nearest hospital emergency department, emphasizing the non-emergent as sessed as: improved (73.7%), same (22.6%), and worse (3.8%). Of those who became worse, none required an emergency department evaluation. Th e present study demonstrates that a Pediatric Telephone Advice Service in Israel is technically functional, medically safe, and contributes to the health management of children.