Telelink: the use of telephone conferences for multidisciplinary team meetings

There are various circumstances where the traditional face to face setting for multidisciplinary meetings is not practical or possible. This includes departments which have a responsibility covering a large geographic region. This paper describes an inexpensive, cost-effective and novel way of conducting multidisciplinary meetings using the telephone conference facility. Team members based in the community are 'linked' by telephone to other members of the hospital-based Aged and Extended Care Department. These conferences led to a significant increase in the referral rate of community-based patients for fuller multidisciplinary geriatric assessment. It also provided a forum for education, exchange of ideas and development of new policy. Other uses for telelinking are highlighted, particularly its successful applications for linking together isolated and handicapped elderly people in the community.