Evaluation of telenursing outcomes: Satisfaction, self-care practices, andcost savings

Info-Sante CLSC, the Quebec telenursing service, is a telephone health line nursing service that was implemented in 1995 in every local community serv ice center (CLSC; n = 141) of 15 regional health authorities in the Provinc e of Quebec, Canada. It is, at present, one of the most important first-lin e health services and it operates in continuity with the other resources in the health and social service system. Info-Sante CLSC operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and received mon than 2,260,000 calls in 1997. This art icle will report the findings from the first province-wide survey of the se rvice, based on a stratified random sample of 4,696 callers. The findings r evealed that most respondents were highly satisfied with the service; they followed the nurses' advice and carried out self-care measures as recommend ed. Nursing interventions helped respondents feel self-reliant, Like they c ould solve the same or similar problems should they occur in the future. Th e vast majority of respondents considered that the call they made to Info-S ante CLSC was useful in finding a solution to their problems. The vast majo rity also claimed that they would certainly call Info-Sante CLSC again shou ld another problem occur. The majority reported they would have turned to a nother type of resource if Info-Sante CLSC had not existed; half of the res pondents stated that they would have used emergency departments and a third would have consulted a doctor in private practice.