Home Talk/Healthy Talk: improving patient's health status with telephone technology.
This article describes Home Talk and Healthy Talk, two practical applications of telephone technology developed at the VNA of Cleveland. Home Talk is a disease-specific monitoring system with preprogrammed automated questions that immediately score patient responses. If any responses fall out of the safety zone, the system calls the supervisor and a live intervention follows for assessment and appropriate action. Healthy Talk is a series of age-specific automated health screens used by nurses in community centers to engage clients to follow through with self-selected health goals. The use, cost-effectiveness, and impact on outcomes are also discussed.
Stricklin
M L
ML
Visiting Nurse Association of Cleveland, Ohio 44115-3204, USA. mstricklin@compuserve.com
Jones
S
S
Niles
S A
SA
D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006304:Health Status; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000458:organization & administration*