Can an office practice telephonic response meet the needs of a pandemic?

INTRODUCTION: the H1N1 (subtype hemagglutinin 1 neuraminidase 1) influenza pandemic of 2009 was associated with a large increase in demand for primary care office visits. However, many patients with H1N1 symptoms or exposure could be assessed and treated with telephone protocols.
METHODS: specific H1N1 influenza telephone protocols were developed by Mayo Clinic physicians using Centers for Disease Control recommendations. Using symptom calls to a primary care practice in the United States, we captured nurse telephone triage recommendations, telephone antiviral prescriptions, and what callers would have done without telephone advice. We retrospectively analyzed all symptom calls from July 2009 through January 2010.
RESULTS: call volume was 5,596 calls monthly during the peak influenza months, which was 56% above the monthly average of 3,595 calls for the nonpeak months (p  <  0.001). The calls during October 2009 were 111% over the nonpeak months (p  <  0.001). In October 2009, telephone triage nurses gave 412 prescriptions for antivirals accounting for 5.4% of calls and 39% of all telephonic prescriptions for that month. In the peak H1N1 month of October, there were 1,522 callers who intended to stay home for their care. For the same month, triage nurses suggested 3,250 of the callers stay home. For an October 2009 appointment capacity of 35,126 visit slots, a potential 5% capacity was preserved.
CONCLUSIONS: a telephone triage solution for the acute demands of influenza H1N1 demonstrated how patients had needs met telephonically while preserving medical access for others.