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Hematology was the most popular tele-advice service for the third straight year, while irritable bowel syndrome was the top pathway over the past 12 months, a new Specialist Link By the Numbers report has revealed.
A total of 2,048 hematology tele-advice calls were made to family physicians in the Calgary area in 2023-24, with obstetrics and gynecology (1,686 combined -- they are now separate services) and endocrinology (1,676) rounding out the top three. It's the third consecutive year hematology has been the busiest tele-advice service; the last service to receive more calls was infectious disease/COVID in 2021.
On the pathways front, IBS has 1,364 downloads, with chronic diarrhea next up (1,311) and then non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (1,294).
The popularity of Specialist Link's core services remained consistent, with 23,667 tele-advice calls made (a slight drop of 5 per cent compared to 2022-23), and 31,391 pathway downloads (up 8 per cent). Urology (886) was the most popular access pathway.
Other highlights from the report included website visits staying consistent at 78,809 (down 0.1 per cent), with views down 2.4 per cent (122,331 in total).
Ninety-five per cent of tele-advice calls were requested online, and just 5 per cent by phone.