TYPE OF INSTRUCTION | NO. OF TIMES THIS INSTRUCTION WAS INCLUDED IN MESSAGES N = 815 | % OF ALL INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN N = 815 | % OF MESSAGES INCLUDING THIS INSTRUCTION N = 514 |
---|---|---|---|
Go to emergency | 302 | 37 | 59 |
Direct contact with a physician | 122 | 15 | 24 |
Go to clinic* | 115 | 14 | 22 |
No direction | 94 | 12 | 18 |
Call a housecall service | 76 | 9 | 15 |
Other† | 61 | 7 | 12 |
Call Telehealth‡ | 45 | 6 | 9 |
TOTAL | 815 | 100 | >100§ |
↵* Clinic refers to a walk-in or after-hours clinic at a different location.
↵† Other includes special instructions for pediatric, palliative, obstetric, and psychiatric patients; answering machine checked frequently, and so on.
↵‡ A provincially funded 24-hour advice line staffed by trained registered nurses who provide free confidential medical advice based on callers’ symptoms using computerized clinical algorithms.
↵§ Total adds to more than 100% because messages could provide more than 1 instruction.