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Table 1 Characteristics patients, calls, and callers by time frame

From: Telephone consultations with otolaryngology – head and neck surgery reduced emergency visits and specialty consultations in northern Alberta

 

Overall

(n = 1709)

Mean (SD) or n (%)

T1

(n = 474)

Mean (SD) or n (%)

T2

(n = 1235)

Mean (SD) or n (%)

P-valuea

Patient Characteristics

 Age in years– Overall

45.6 (21.9)

41.3 (25.4)

47.2 (20.2)

< 0.001

 Sex – male

967 (56.6)

277 (58.4)

690 (55.9)

0.529

Characteristics of Calls

 Calls during office hours

779 (100)

169 (35.6)

610 (78.3)

< 0.001

 Calls during after hours - weekday

504 (100)

164 (32.5)

340 (67.5)

< 0.001

 Calls during after hours - weekend

426 (100)

141 (33.1)

285 (66.9)

< 0.001

Response Time (minutes)

 Overall

18.9 (34.6)

11.4 (20.7)

21.8 (38.4)

< 0.001

 Calls during office hours

26.0 (42.9)

12.7 (23.0)

29.9 (46.5)

< 0.001

 Calls during after hours - weekday

15.0 (26.6)

11.3 (16.5)

16.7 (30.0)

0.036

 Calls during after hours - weekend

11.2 (22.7)

9.9 (22.1)

11.8 (23.0)

0.425

Time to clear call (hours)

 Overall

0.9 (1.2)

0.9 (1.6)

0.8 (1.0)

0.169

 Calls during office hours

0.9 (1.1)

0.8 (1.2)

1.0 (1.0)

0.103

 Calls during after hours - weekday

0.9 (1.5)

1.1 (2.1)

0.8 (1.1)

0.025

 Calls during after hours - weekend

0.7 (1.0)

0.9 (1.2)

0.6 (0.9)

0.023

Distance of caller to University of Alberta Hospital (kms)

 0–50 km

896 (52.4)

166 (35.0)

730 (59.1)

< 0.001

 51–100

166 (9.7)

68 (14.4)

98 (7.9)

0.180

 101–150

182 (10.7)

64 (13.5)

118 (9.6)

0.422

 151–200

110 (6.4)

42 (8.9)

68 (5.5)

0.491

 201–250

152 (8.9)

66 (14.0)

86 (7.0)

0.155

 251–300

91 (5.3)

39 (8.2)

52 (4.2)

0.423

  > 300

112 (6.6)

29 (6.1)

83 (6.7)

0.911

  1. afor comparison of T1 to T2