Telephone advisory service, visits to district nurses and home visits made by district nurses at a Swedish primary health care district.

All contacts with the district nurses were registered during a three-week period, daytime Monday to Friday, in a defined primary health care district (Vänersborg, Sweden): 855 incoming telephone calls, 1,016 visits to the district nurses (visits to child welfare unit excluded), and 380 home visits made by the district nurses. The telephone consultations comprised 38% of the total number of contacts and 14% of the time was devoted to this activity, visits to the district nurses at their reception units 45% of all contacts and 39% of the time, and home visits 17% and 47%, respectively. Symptoms from the upper respiratory tract and from the skin were the most common reasons for telephone consultations, while wounds and leg ulcers were the most common reasons for visits to the reception unit and for home visits. A great deal of the district nurse's work was requested by health centres and hospitals.