Mobile phone consultation for community health care in rural north India.
We conducted a study to ascertain the acceptability and feasibility of consultation by mobile phone in a rural area of northern India. The mobile phone number of a community physician was advertised to the general public and people were invited to telephone at any time for a medical consultation. Details of the calls received were recorded. During a seven-month study, 660 calls were received. The mean call duration was 2.7 min. Eighty percent of calls were made by men. Forty-eight percent of calls were made during office hours. A total of 417 (63%) calls were for seeking advice, 146 (22%) were for outpatient follow-up, 23 (4%) were for seeking appointments and the remaining 74 (11%) for other reasons. The most common problems were skin, respiratory, mental health and sexual problems. Of the 387 callers who were interviewed at follow-up, 302 (78%) stated that they had followed the advice provided. Of these, 91% found the advice very helpful in managing their health problems. About 96% of users wished to continue to use the service in future. The majority of calls made were of a primary care nature which could easily be dealt with by phone. The concept of using mobile phones for medical consultation seemed to be acceptable to people in rural Haryana.
Bali
Surya
S
Department of Community Medicine, MLN Medical College, Allahabad University, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. drsuryabali@yahoo.com
Singh
Amar Jeet
AJ
D040421:Cell Phone; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*