Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Postal Service”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Paediatric otolaryngology services in the UK: a postal questionnaire survey of ENT consultants.

Approximately half a million children in England and Wales receive in-patient or day-case surgical treatment annually. Otolaryngology is the surgical specialty that provides the greatest number of episodes of such care. As 30-50 per cent of our total volume of work is paediatric, we feel it is important to assess current attitudes to paediatric otolaryngological practice. In its year 2000 document Children's Surgery: a First Class Service, The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England sets out recommendations on how children's surgical services should be delivered in the UK. A postal questionnaire was sent to all UK-based ENT consultant members of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists-Head and Neck Surgeons (BAO-HNS). The questionnaire was designed to assess the current practice of paediatric otolaryngology in the UK with an emphasis on the RCS recommendations. Wide variations were found, and they are discussed with reference to the recommendations.

Anesthesiology↗
PubMed1984

Obtaining information on patient satisfaction with hospital care: mail versus telephone.

Many objectives of the study examined here were to develop a questionnaire useful in eliciting the perceptions of patients regarding their hospital care, to compare the methodologic and substantive differences between a mail survey and a telephone survey of patients done approximately a week post discharge, and to develop methods allowing the questionnaire to be administered by an organization other than the hospital. Two independent surveys were conducted at the same hospital--a telephone survey with a telephone follow-up, and a mail survey with a telephone follow-up. The study demonstrated that an organization external to the hospital can economically conduct a patient satisfaction survey of a representative patient sample while ensuring confidentiality and producing potentially useful results. The mail survey was preferred over the telephone survey due to lower cost, lower chance of biased responses, and complete assurance of confidentiality. The aspects of hospital care most influencing patient satisfaction related to nursing services.

Confidentiality↗
PubMed2001

A randomized controlled trial comparing three invitation strategies in a breast cancer screening program.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to compare the response received by a population-based breast cancer screening program, according to three different invitation strategies: letters sent by mail from the program (program group), letters sent by mail from the Primary Health Care Team (PHT group), and direct contact through a trained professional (direct contact group). METHODS: We used a cluster-randomized controlled trial with assignment to invitation group using home address. Nine hundred eighty-six women of Barcelona (Spain), ages 50 to 64 years, were invited to participate in the program. The main outcome used was the response rate after the first invitation. RESULTS: Five hundred sixty-four women accepted the invitation (57.2%). The highest response rate was achieved in the direct contact group (63.5%), followed by the PHT group (55.6%), the program group being the one that attained the lowest response rate (52.1%). The direct contact group had a higher probability of participating than the PHT group (RR = 1.14, P = 0.037) or the program group (RR = 1.22, P = 0.003). The response rate in the direct contact group was 72.1% when the letter was received by the subject herself. The increase in response occurred particularly among women of lower educational level. CONCLUSIONS: Inviting women to participate in a breast cancer screening program through direct contact by trained personnel increased participation rate compared with mailed-letter methods. The positive effect appeared restricted to women with lower educational levels.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed2003

Characteristics of rural elderly people who bypass local pharmacies.

CONTEXT: The bypassing of local pharmacies by consumers is an indicator of limited accessibility and, possibly, compromised quality of rural pharmacy services. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to identify the characteristics of rural consumers who bypassed local pharmacies for their medication needs. METHODS: The sample was derived from the Texas Tech 5000, a longitudinal survey in West Texas, and pharmacy data from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. The sample included 1062 people aged 65 or older who lived in rural counties and had at least one community pharmacy in town. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate the demographic, financial, nonfinancial, prescription and over-the-counter drug use, and health characteristics that were associated with the probabilities of the subjects' using local community pharmacies, nonlocal community pharmacies, and mail-order pharmacies. FINDINGS: In the sample, 70.8%, 13.7%, and 15.5% of elderly people primarily used local pharmacies, nonlocal pharmacies, and mail-order pharmacies, respectively. The oldest subjects, women subjects, subjects with no employer-provided or other federal insurance, subjects who had a regular doctor, and subjects living within city limits and in areas with a higher density of community pharmacies had lower probabilities of choosing nonlocal pharmacies over local pharmacies. Insurance coverage for prescriptions was one of the most important determinants in choosing mail-order pharmacies over local community pharmacies. CONCLUSIONS: Additional research is warranted to further understand the choices made by older people, as well as by younger people who use medications. In particular, further investigation of the potential differences between services provided by rural-community, urban-community, and mail-order pharmacies is needed to identify other reasons for bypassing local pharmacies.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Scratch lottery tickets are a poor incentive to respond to mailed questionnaires.

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that the enclosure of money with a mailed questionnaire increases the response rate significantly. We evaluated scratch lottery tickets as an alternative to cash. METHODS: 1500 randomly selected Norwegians between the ages of 40 and 65 years were sent a short questionnaire. 250 received one lottery scratch ticket worth 20 Norwegian kroner (approximately 3 USD) together with the questionnaire, 250 received two scratch tickets, and 250 were promised two scratch tickets if they replied within one week. A fourth group of 250 persons received a 50 kroner banknote with the questionnaire. The remaining 500 letters served as controls. RESULTS: The overall response rate after 6 weeks was 77%. Logistic regression analysis showed that only the 50 kroner group had a response rate that was statistically significantly higher than the controls (p < 0.0001). It was also significantly higher than that in any of the other incentive groups (p < 0.0001, p < 0.004 and p < 0.0001 respectively). Female sex (p < 0.001) and age (p < 0.002) increased the response rate significantly. CONCLUSION: It is possible that the recipients scratched their cards before completing the questionnaire, and that it was a disincentive for the majority that they did not win anything. Lottery scratch tickets are no substitute for cash as an incentive to respond to a questionnaire.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Adoption of reminder and recall messages for immunizations by pediatricians and public health clinics.

OBJECTIVE: Strong scientific evidence and national recommendations support the use of reminder and recall messages to improve immunization coverage rates, yet reports have suggested that only a minority of pediatric practices use such messages. Our aims were to 1) determine the proportions of pediatric practices and public clinics that currently use practice-based reminder or recall messages and routinely undergo immunization assessment efforts, 2) evaluate barriers and supports to implementing these practices, and 3) identify predictors of either current use or plans for future adoption of these practices. METHODS: This study combined qualitative and quantitative methods in sequential phases. In the qualitative phase, we conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with a convenience sample of 18 clinician-administrators representing adopters and nonadopters of these messages in both private practices and public health clinics. In the subsequent quantitative phase, we mailed a structured, closed-ended survey to national samples of randomly selected pediatricians (n = 600) and public clinics (n = 600). RESULTS: Response rates were 75% for pediatricians and 77% for public clinics. Among pediatricians, 38% were conducting regular assessments of immunization coverage but only 16% were currently using routine reminder or recall messages. Among public clinics, 85% were conducting regular assessments and 51% were using reminder or recall messages. Among pediatricians' practices, the most commonly reported barriers to the adoption of reminder or recall messages were lack of time and funding and the inability to identify children at specified ages. For pediatricians' practices, the strongest predictors of current use of reminder or recall messages were having a champion who led efforts to improve immunization delivery (odds ratio: 1.85; 95% confidence interval: 1.08-3.18) and current use of regular immunization assessments (odds ratio: 2.30; 95% confidence interval: 1.33-3.84). Likewise, for public health clinics, having a champion to lead immunization improvement efforts and believing that their current system needed improvement was associated with current use of reminder or recall messages. CONCLUSIONS: Reminder and recall messages remain underused by both pediatricians and public health clinics. Promising strategies to promote adoption of these approaches in both the private and the public sectors include identifying and training champions to promote immunization delivery improvement efforts and helping practices develop methods to identify children at specific ages.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMed1992

Planning palliative care services.

An audit was conducted to assess the use of, and satisfaction with, local services for the care of the dying, which have developed over the past seven years in South Glamorgan. These services include hospice inpatient, outpatient and day care facilities, home care specialist nursing, volunteer services and domiciliary medical consultations. All general practitioners in the district were surveyed about the services by postal questionnaire; respondents represented most of the practices in the district. The results show a variable level of uptake of services for those well established (excluding paediatric oncology), including a high level of satisfaction with the available services. The results identify a lack of provision for patients dying from a non-malignant disease.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2006

Clinicians' attitudes to spirituality in old age psychiatry.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this survey is to investigate professional attitudes to the presence and value of spiritual care from Old Age Psychiatrists. METHOD: All registered members of the Faculty of the Psychiatry of Old Age in the United Kingdom were asked to complete a 21-question semi-structured questionnaire. The first mail shot took place in 2002 and the second mail shot to non-respondents in 2003. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the answers received. RESULTS: The response rate was 46%. The majority of respondents (92%) recognize the importance of spiritual dimensions of care for older people with mental health needs and about a quarter of respondents appear to consider referring patients to the chaplaincy service. In contrast, integration of spiritual advisors within the assessment and management of individual cases is rare. CONCLUSIONS: Opinions vary as to whether provision of spiritual care should become widely available to older people with mental health needs who are admitted to hospital. Old age psychiatrists recognize that awareness of spiritual dimensions may be important for their patients. They seem less clear about the role of spiritual advisors and how NHS multidisciplinary clinical teams and spiritual and pastoral care services can be best integrated. Much work needs to be done on developing effective training and operational policies in this area.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The community need index. A new tool pinpoints health care disparities in communities throughout the nation.

Catholic Healthcare West, San Francisco (CHW), has developed a national Community Need Index (CNI) in partnership with Solucient, an information products company, to help health care organizations, not-for-profits, and policymakers identify and address barriers to health care access in their communities. The CNI aggregates five socioeconomic indicators long known to contribute to health disparity--income, culture/language, education, housing status, and insurance coverage--and applies them to every zip code in the United States. Each zip code is then given a score ranging from 1.0 (low need) to 5.0 (high need). Residents of communities with the highest CNI scores were shown to be twice as likely to experience preventable hospitalization for manageable conditions--such as ear infections, pneumonia or congestive heart failure--as communities with the lowest CNI scores. The CNI provides compelling evidence for addressing socioeconomic barriers when considering health policy and local health planning. The tool highlights health care disparities between geographic regions and illustrates the acute needs of several notable geographies, including inner city and rural areas.Further, it should enable health care providers, policymakers, and others to allocate resources where they are most needed, using a standardized, quantitative tool. The CNI provides CHW with an important means to strategically allocate resources where it will be most effective in maintaining a healthy community.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Direct mail as a prompt for follow-up care among persons at risk for hypertension.

We undertook a direct mail campaign to urge persons identified as being at risk for hypertension to seek medical advice. Those who received a single mailing displayed a 28% increase in the proportion who subsequently discussed their blood pressure with a physician and a 12% increase in the proportion who had their blood pressure rechecked, while those persons who received six mailings reported an equivalent increase in physician discussions but a smaller increase in rechecking their blood pressure. These results support the use of inexpensive social marketing strategies as follow-up methods for blood pressure screening programs.

Adult↗