The ComputerLink projects: a decade of experience.

Telecommunications technology provides a pathway for nurses to reach patients and their family caregivers. The ComputerLink, an experimental computer network, enabled home-bound persons to access information, communications, and decision support services from their homes. Persons naive to computers can and will use telecommunications to maintain contact with peers and professionals. While participants in experimental networks used communication services most often, the access to relevant health information in a timely and convenient fashion may contribute more to the positive health benefits. Nursing interventions need to be tailored to capitalize on the unique features of computer network. The timing, cadence and content of interpersonal interactions must be modified to account for lags in the transmission of messages. Strategies for interpreting written text, which lacks the aural cues found in spoken speech, must be developed.