Telephone management of febrile young children in a family practice setting.

To examine which factors are related to the telephone disposition of febrile children in a university family practice setting, telephone encounter records of a cohort of febrile young children were analyzed. No relationship was found between telephone disposition and a child's sex, age, or temperature, the latter two being well-known risk factors for occult and serious illness in febrile young children. There was a significant relationship between telephone disposition and telephone diagnosis. The lack of association between telephone disposition and either age or temperature of a child should be impetus for staff education concerning the telephone management of febrile children in this family practice.