Infante-Rivard C, Krieger M, Petitclerc M, Baumgarten M. A telephone support service to reduce medical care use among the elderly.
J Am Geriatr Soc 1988;
36:306-11. [PMID:
3351175 DOI:
10.1111/j.1532-5415.1988.tb02356.x]
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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.
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