Telephone nurses’ experiences of managing callers affected by mental illness: A descriptive qualitative study

Abstract

Mental illness is a global health problem and encompasses many conditions with varying degrees of severity. Telephone contact is often the patient’s initial contact with the healthcare system. This study aimed to illuminate telenurses’ experiences of managing calls with patients affected by mental illness in primary healthcare. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 11 telenurses and a qualitative content analysis was conducted. The COREQ checklist was used to ensure trustworthiness. The analysis revealed three themes, labelled as: ‘Finding a solution to solve and deal with circumstances’; ‘Being emotionally affected and re-evaluating the situation’; and ‘Using distracting approaches and creating space for reflection’. The results show that telenurses adopt different strategies to manage negative and positive situations. This requires telenurses to be adaptable with the patient affected by mental illness as well as within each call and the conditions within the healthcare organization to manage calls with patients affected by mental illness.