Background: Inter-hospital communication frequently requires mediation via a switchboard. Identifying and eliminating switchboard inefficiencies may improve patient care.
Methods: All 175 acute hospital switchboards in England were contacted six times. Call contents and duration were recorded. No clinician calls or bleeps were connected.
Results: The mean delay before contacting a switchboard operative was 55±46 seconds. 115 hospitals (66%) used automated switchboards; 34 of these (30%) had infection control messages. Robot operators introduced an additional 40 second delay versus humans (mean 70.3±28 versus 29.8±23 seconds, p<0.0001). Multivariate analysis identified robot operators (HR 5.1, p<0.0001) and infection control messages (HR 2.9, p=0.003) as predictors of delays over 60 seconds.
Conclusions: There are significant avoidable delays in contacting switchboard operatives across England. Quality improvement is underway.
Authors: R Ghelani, E Maclean, M Adra, S Anderson, A Arora, C Aylward, H Bindra, C Carter, M Denning, N Dib, S Egan, L Ganis, H Illing, DR Kerwat, M Knight, S Maden, M Murphy, S Myers, G Mootein, H Penicott, MC Rooney, H Seehra, F Shams, D Yauwan, R Yogarajah & H Zhu
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