[Telephone interruptions in family doctor clinics in two health centres in Saragossa]

Objectives: To analyse disruptions due to telephone calls in primary care clinics, their reasons and distribution during the working day.

Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.

Setting: The study was conducted in primary care, 2 urban Primary Care Health Centres in Area II of Zaragoza.

Methodology: Seven primary care physicians recorded all calls, whether or not they were passed on from the admissions service to clinics, their origin and characteristics, over a period of 5.5 months.

Results: The overall mean percentage of calls per day for each doctor was of 1.39 (SD 1.5), being 1.66 (SD 1.53) in San José Norte and 1.22 (SD 1.46) in San José Centro (P=.012), with a difference between 0.2 and 0.68 calls per day per clinic. The mean number of calls per day in the morning clinics and per clinic was 1.37 (SD 1.53) and 1.44 (SD 1.41) in the afternoon clinics, there being a significant difference (P=. 62). Calls originated by the patients themselves to speak directly with their doctors are more frequent in the morning than afternoon hours (28.5% and 26.5%). The distribution of calls is mainly from the 10.30 to 1 p.m., and between the 17:00 and 18:00 hours.

Conclusions: Quantifying the telephone calls that occur during the family physician clinics, as well as determining their distribution and reasons, allows strategies to be developed to take advantage of the phone calls, as well as minimising disruption in the clinics.