Timliness and equity of access

Use and reported effectiveness of Tel-Med: a telephone health information system

In January 1977, a Telephone Information System (Tel-Med) was begun in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A survey was conducted to determine how Tel-Med was meeting the community's need for health information and to see if program objectives were being met. Respondents in 3,005 randomly selected households were interviewed by telephone to determine user characteristics, user motivation, action taken, knowledge and information gained, and system improvements. A key finding indicated that larger percentages of adults with lower income and educational levels were not aware of the service than were the adults in upper income and educational levels. However, income and education are not related to use of Tel-Med among individuals who know of this service. This finding suggests that the poorer and lesser educated would use Tel-Med in a way similar to that of their more fortunate peers if efforts were made to inform them of the service.