E-Mail Reminder To The Survey

E-Mail Reminder To The Survey.
Both electronic and mailed reminders alleviate aid some patients to get colorectal cancer screenings, two new studies show. One work included 1103 patients, aged 50 to 75, at a group work who were overdue for colorectal cancer screening. Half of them received a single electronic message from their doctor, along with a relate to a Web-based tool to assess their risk for colorectal cancer. The other patients acted as a button group and did not receive any electronic messages. One month later, the screening rates were 8,3 percent for patients who received the electronic reminders and 0,2 percent in the be in control group.

But the imbalance was no longer significant after four months - 15,8 percent vs 13,1 percent. Among the 552 patients who received the electronic message, 54 percent viewed it and 9 percent worn the Web-based assessment tool. About one-fifth of the patients who occupied the assessment way were estimated to have a higher-than-average risk for colorectal cancer.

Patients who used the risk tool were more probable to get screened. "Patients have expressed interest in interacting with their medical record using electronic portals almost identical to the one used in our intervention," wrote Dr Thomas D Sequist, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, in a statement release.

And "Further research is needed to comprehend the most effective ways for patients to use interactive health information technology to improve their care and to slim the morbidity and mortality of colorectal cancer".The second study included 628 patients, superannuated 50 to 79, who had an expired order for a screening colonoscopy. Half of the patients were mailed a cue letter from their doctor, a brochure and a DVD about colorectal cancer and the screening process. They also received a bolstering telephone call.

The other patients were assigned to a control group that received usual care. Three months after the mailings, 9,9 percent of patients in the intervention platoon and 3,2 percent of patients in the handle group had undergone colorectal cancer screening. After six months, the rates were 18,2 percent and 12,1 percent.

So "Because the screening be entitled to remained low, additional scrutiny is needed to determine how to best promote screening in this patient group," concluded Kenzie A Cameron and colleagues at Feinburg School of Medicine and Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, in a news programme release more help. "At present, strength systems could reasonably prefer to begin screening promotion with low-cost interventions like simple mailings followed by more expensive, but potentially more effectivem, interventions such as one-on-one case navigation or interventions aimed at eliminating structural barriers for patients who carry on unscreened," they concluded.