Type and Number of Referrals
chest pain, numbness, dizziness, acute headache, depression, hypertension
HYPERGLYCEMIA, HYPERTENSION
When receiving a call from participants, hearing the alarm go off, or following a comprehensive assessment of a participant (mHealth+I group), the nurse coordinated and referred the participants to appropriate services when necessary. The nurse referred 6 mHealth and 6 mHealth+I participants to medical services (ie, 2 mHealth and 3 mHealth+I participants to a general practitioner, 4 mHealth and 3 mHealth+I participants to a hospital) and 18 mHealth and 12 mHealth+I participants to social services, respectively. The reasons for the social service referral were diverse and included psychosocial problems such as being at a risk for depression, family problems and poor communication with relatives, and a lack of community service information, while the reasons for the medical referral were hypertension with dizziness and sweating, hyperglycemia, limb numbness, chest pain, and acute headache. On average, both the mHealth and mHealth+I groups of participants had 3 follow-ups with social workers, 1 follow-up with a general practitioner, and 1 hospital admission after referral. The nurse, social worker, and general practitioner met a total of 6 times to discuss care plans for the referred participants. After the meeting, the nurse would continue to follow up on the care plans with the participants in subsequent telephone calls.