Following up outpatients by telephone: pilot study

The potential of the telephone in routine medical care has not been widely explored. 1 2 On a detailed questionnaire on follow up by telephone that canvassed the views of 275 outpatients, 160 (80%) stated they would be willing to accept this.3 We evaluated the role and value of follow up by telephone in the continuing care of rheumatology outpatients. Subjects were selected during routine follow up at the rheumatology outpatient clinic. All patients were given a verbal and a written explanation of the aims of the service. An initial detailed clinical assessment and investigations were undertaken to determine patients' suitability for follow up by telephone. Those considered unsuitable because of clinical circumstances, age, cognitive or hearing impairment, or language problems were excluded. Approval for the study was granted by the hospital management. All but three of the 173 suitable subjects agreed …