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A telephone support service to reduce medical care use among the elderly.
- Source :
-
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society [J Am Geriatr Soc] 1988 Apr; Vol. 36 (4), pp. 306-11. - Publication Year :
- 1988
-
Abstract
- A randomized controlled trial was performed to determine whether a telephone support system could reduce the frequency of ambulatory physician encounters. A total of 182 elderly persons were enrolled in the study. The experimental group was regularly called by a public health nurse and could call the nurse every weekday during normal working hours. The control group received no intervention. A year later, the experimental group reported 7.40 ambulatory encounters with a physician (SD = 4.94) and the control group reported 8.61 encounters (SD = 6.85). The difference between the groups, after adjusting for various prognostic factors, was 1.20 (95% confidence interval, -0.84 to 3.24). Although the difference did not achieve statistical significance, the results suggest that telephone support may bring about a substantial decrease in medical care utilization. Further research assessing the cost-advantage ratio for this type of intervention is recommended.
- Subjects :
- Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ambulatory Care statistics & numerical data
Female
Home Care Services statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Office Visits
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Public Health Nursing
Quebec
Random Allocation
Social Environment
Community Health Services statistics & numerical data
Health Services for the Aged statistics & numerical data
Telephone
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0002-8614
- Volume :
- 36
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 3351175
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1988.tb02356.x