Follow-up after telephone consultations at out-of-hours primary care

After a contact with a primary care physician (pcp) cooperative for out-of-hours care,many patients have subsequent contact with health care. little is known about the factors associated with these follow-up contacts. the objective of this study was to examine whether patient experiences with nurse telephone consultations and the cooperative's organizational characteristics were associated with the probability of follow-up contact. methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study of patients attending 16 dutch pcp cooperatives (2009 to 2011) using a validated questionnaire to measure patient experiences with nurse telephone consultations and patient-reported follow-up. participating cooperatives provided information on 12 organizational characteristics. multilevel regression modeling was used to identify associations. results: a total of 7039 patients returned a questionnaire (50.4%),of which 5678 were complete. about half of patients reported a follow-up contact (47%). regression analyses showed increasing probability of follow-up contact in patients with higher age (<65 years; odds ratio [or],2.39),patients receiving a home visit (or,1.32),and cooperatives with a higher percentage of telephone consultations (or,1.02) and a decreased probability among patients with more positive experiences with a nurse via telephone contact (or,0.68). conclusion: although follow-up contacts can be medically required,a substantial number of contacts seem to be not required and thus are potentially avoidable (eg,by changes in work routine and communication). (j am board fam med 2013;26:373-379.).