Background

When fever causes concerns for parents, they can contact Swedish Healthcare Direct (SHD), i.e. the telephone nursing (TN) service. However, ensuring satisfaction, consensus and trust is crucial for parental reassurance and adherence to the advice. There is limited research investigating parents’ views of TN, especially as regards children with fevers. The study aimed to explore and describe parents’ experiences of telephone nursing when their child has a fever.

Method

The study uses a convergent mixed-method design. Parents who contacted the TN service regarding their child’s fever were invited to participate. Quantitative data were collected in 113 questionnaires and analysed with descriptive statistic (n, %, median and interquartile range). Qualitative data were collected in 12 semi-structured interviews and analysed with manifest content analysis. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed separately and then integrated and presented in a way that compares similarities and differences. Finally, an overall interpretation took place.

Results

Descriptive statistics showed that the majority of parents had both high expectations of the telenurses and also high parental satisfaction with the TN service. The qualitive analysis identified three themes; seeking answers, getting a caring conversation, and getting an assessment and guidance. The integrated results show that the qualitative findings both confirmed and extended the questionnaire responses. The interaction with the telenurse plays an important role and sometimes seems to play an even larger role in parents’ satisfaction with a call than the actual advice they received. The parents describe being cared for by someone with an empathetic response including a reassuring tone of voice. Although the waiting times can be perceived as too long, the lengths of the calls are generally described as appropriate, not because of the duration itself, but because the telenurses seem calm and do not end conversations prematurely.

Conclusion

The findings show that telephone nursing encompasses both advice and the telenurse-parent interaction surrounding its provision. Each of these aspects are important in creating satisfied and reassured parents. The advice must be clear, consistent and preferably include safety netting. At the same time, the telenurse must listen, validate and take the parent’s concerns seriously.