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Biomedical subjects

R Warnecke

Publications and source records attributed to R Warnecke.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Work site group meetings and the effectiveness of a televised smoking cessation intervention.

At the work site, smoking accounts for increased health care expenses and worker absenteeism due to smoking-related illness and reduced productivity and lost wages. Developing comprehensive and accessible smoking cessation programs at the work site is an important objective for health care professionals. In this study, employees of 43 corporations participated in a televised smoking cessation program accompanied by self-help manuals. The media component involved presenting a smoking cessation program on a network television affiliate station during the 4:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. news for 20 days. Employees at half the corporations also had access to semiweekly self-help group meetings. Adding self-help support groups to a program involving self-help manuals and the media reports was found to significantly increase abstinence and its maintenance over time. The implications of using the media, self-help groups, and work site locations in large-scale community-based interventions are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

[Biochemical and immunological examinations in patients with lung diseases under particular consideration of bronchial carcinoma (author's transl)].

The diagnosis, judgment of stages and check of the course especially malignant lung diseases are further problematic. Tumourspecific laboratory tests don't exist absolutely, however the content of information of methods with a relatively high statement should be fully used. In serum of tumour patients was determined the enzymes LDH, Alpha-HBDH, ALD and AP; LDH and HBDH showed pathological activities most frequently with the highest share of abnormal values by small-cell carcinoma. Aldolase and AP values was preferential increased at late tumour stages. The mean concentrations of the immunoglobulins G, A and M were exclusive in the normal range, the decreased IgM-level found in 15% of tumour patients is remarkable. --Above all the common determination of LDH, AP and ALD is considered as useful.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prescribe for health. Improving cancer screening in physician practices serving low-income and minority populations.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a health maintenance organization (HMO)-sponsored intervention to improve cancer screening in private physician practices serving low-income, minority populations. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial with preintervention and postintervention measurements. Measurements were obtained by abstracting information from independent random samples of medical charts (N = 2316 at preintervention and 2238 at postintervention). SETTING: Forty-seven primary care physician practices located in low-income and minority urban neighborhoods in Chicago, Ill. INTERVENTION: Practices were encouraged to adopt an office chart reminder system and to use a patient health maintenance card. Activities to facilitate the adoption of these items and for compliance with cancer screening guidelines included on-site training and start-up assistance visits, a physician continuing medical education seminar, and quality assurance visits with feedback to physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportions of patients with a chart-documented mammogram, clinical breast examination, Papanicolaou smear, or fecal occult blood slide test in the 2 years before preintervention and postintervention chart abstractions. RESULTS: Between baseline and postintervention, there was a net increase in the proportion of HMO members in the intervention, compared with the control practices, who received in the preceding 2 years a Papanicolaou smear (11.9%) and a fecal occult blood slide test (14.1%). There was a net increase in the proportion of non-HMO patients in the intervention compared with the control practices who received a clinical breast examination (15.3%) and a fecal occult blood slide test (20.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an HMO-mediated, multicomponent intervention to improve cancer screening was feasible and effective for the Papanicolaou smear, fecal occult blood slide test, and the clinical breast examination, but not for mammography.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Measuring readiness and motivation to quit smoking among women in public health clinics.

We conducted a pilot test of an instrument to assess stage of readiness and level of motivation to change smoking behavior among 495 women smokers in public health clinics. The stages of readiness were based on those proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente but with finer discrimination within the precontemplation stage, where a substantial minority (41%) of the target smokers were situated. Subdividing this earliest group, we found that 8% of the total sample planned no change in smoking ever; 8% were seriously thinking of cutting down; and 25% were seriously thinking of quitting but not within 6 months. Scales in the questionnaire included general motivation to change smoking behavior and confidence in one's ability to do so. The women's scores differed on these scales and on action toward quitting across the five stages of readiness, except that the lowest two groups did not differ on confidence. Pregnancy enhanced readiness to quit. The instrument accommodates the brevity and low literacy requirements for use in these applied settings and is suitable for use in either self-administered questionnaire or interview format.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Agreement between patient self-reports and medical records for Pap smear histories.

As part of a larger cervical cancer study, we tried to verify the Pap smear histories for 125 black women with cervical cancer. For 105 of the patients, we identified all possible providers for the five-year period before the calendar year of diagnosis. Agreement between the medical records and the patient reports was poor to fair (kappa = 0.34) for whether the patient had a Pap smear in the three-year period before diagnosis. Patients tended to report far more Pap smears than medical records confirmed. Important determinants of agreement were the number of Pap smears reported during the five-year period and the age of the patient. The older the patient and the more Pap smears reported, the larger the discrepancy between the medical record and her self-report. The medical records did not contain enough data for us to complete an investigation of the possible reasons for this disagreement. Our results suggest these implications: (1) clinicians should strongly consider performing Pap smears if they doubt a patient's screening history, and (2) Pap smear registries are required for reliable and efficient evaluations of cervical cancer control programs because neither the patient report nor medical records are adequate.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Using a community cancer treatment trials network for cancer prevention and control research: challenges and opportunities.

Using data collected as part of a larger evaluation of the National Cancer Institute-funded Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP), this paper examines the degree to which selected community, interorganizational, and structural characteristics associated with accrual to cancer treatment protocols share equal importance in accruing patients to cancer prevention and control research protocols. Analysis reveals that there are similarities in the factors that prove to be effective for accrual to both types of protocols; however, the two are not isomorphic. CCOP structure was an important predictor of treatment accrual but was not significant for cancer control accrual. Variables measuring the community health resources available to the CCOP were not significant for either treatment or cancer prevention and control research accrual when CCOP structure and interaction with participating research bases were considered. Only CCOP interaction with participating research bases was a significant predictor of both treatment and cancer prevention and control research accrual. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Clinical Protocols↗