POTENTIAL EFFECT OF SELF-CARE ALGORITHMS ON THE NUMBER OF PHYSICIAN VISITS

To assess the potential effect of self-care algorithms on the number of physician visits, actual visits from the Seattle Virus Watch were compared retrospectively with those recommended by clinical algorithms for common illnesses from the book, Take Care of Yourself, by Vickery and Fries. From a total of 3929 illnesses, records indicating the presence of the index symptom for eight algorithms were identified, determining whether the criteria for seeing a physician were met and whether a physician visit was recorded. The number of visits observed was compared to the number of visits recommended by the algorithms. Strict adherence would have increased the number of visits over that observed for five, remained the same for two, and decreased for one of the algorithms. These results indicate that adherence to some commonly promulgated self-care algorithms may increase rather than decrease the number of physician visits. (N Engl J Med 300:535–537, 1979) IN recent years, many self-care manuals and other resource books have been published for consumers’ use in dealing with common health problems. Recommendations from these publications emphasize self-diagnosis, home remedies and appropriate use of the medical-care system, assuming that adherence to the recommendations will improve health and reduce medical costs. These assumptions have not been evaluated, although sales of self-care books are rapidly increasing, and several have been offered free to subscribers of certain health-insurance plans. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the potential effect on physician visits of adherence to recommendations from the book, Take Care. © 1979, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.