Background and Development

The Nightingale Teleguides were designed by General Practitioner Management Services Ltd. (GPMS, Carlow, Ireland) using a peer review process that has been supervised and authenticated by the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICPG).

Where did the Nightingale Teleguides come from?

The Nightingales Teleguides are a specially adapted version of the American base set of Teleguide Algorithms. They have been designed specifically for use in OOH settings. They algorithms that the Nightingale Teleguides are derived from have been developed to meet challenges posed by resource availability and funding details for Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Australia, the United States, South Africa, Nigeria and Botswana. These versions have been used in settings as diverse as OOH facilities, nurse triage centres and ambulance dispatch centres to triage more than 18 million callers around the world.

All versions of the Teleguide Algorithms including the Nightingale Teleguides exist as self- contained executable content. As such they can be run as modules within any software and many other software applications as well. They are easy to customise and derived from the latest evidence-based medical and nursing literature.

The Teleguide Algorithms include up-to-date information that has been peer reviewed by physicians, nurses and pharmacists. They all facilitate customisation for use in different countries, regions and care systems around the world. The Nightingale Teleguides have been customised specifically for use in the out-of-hours environment in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. This ensures that the Nightingale Teleguides appropriately reflect the process of care in each individual Healthcare system.