Normative and narrative – triage call handlers' discretionary space
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Normative and narrative – how do triage call handlers navigate their discretionary space between listening to the caller and following the software-mediated protocol?
IRAS ID
257539
Contact name
Jens Foell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
BCUHB
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Why?
This study investigates how call-handlers in the field of unscheduled healthcare navigate their discretionary space between following the protocol provided by the information software provided by their organisation and listening to the service-users’ stories. Healthcare is becoming more digitalized and complex. Healthcare includes increasingly technology-mediated interactions, e.g. telephone or other non-face-to-face contacts. The increasing complexity of healthcare services with a focus to “get it right first time” requires a detailed assessment of the case prior to channeling the case to the most appropriate service. These “triage”- situations have also an ethical and political dimension. They include deliberations about wise allocation of healthcare resources for the greater good of the public and appropriate services for the needs of individual service-users. Telephone-mediated conversations regulating access to healthcare services are delicate and difficult matters with huge impact on patient-experience, public spending and healthcare workers’ job satisfaction. It is in the public interest to explore this workplace in the interface of call-centre work, population health management and customer care.
What?
The study investigates healthcare service provision in unscheduled care. The target group for participants are call-handlers. This includes people with varying professional background who work in unscheduled care. This includes Welsh Ambulance, NHS Direct and GP Out of Hours (BCUHB)
Where?
The study has two arms. It is an interview study (staff) with associated fieldwork in service delivery sites. The interviews take place in protected rooms on site of premises belonging to Welsh Ambulance or BCUHB. Fieldwork sites are the places where triage consultations occur ( Welsh Ambulance, BCUHB, NHS Direct, service provision in ambulance and GP Out of Hours)How?
Data collection consists of max. two semi-structured in-depth interviews with volunteering staff participants in delivery sites (NHS Direct, GP Out of Hours, possibly Welsh Ambulance depending on clearance arrangements)REC name
Wales REC 5
REC reference
19/WA/0099
Date of REC Opinion
27 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion