| A survey of general dental practitioners' opinions of response letters received from hospital specialists following a referred patient's first appointment. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 16767140 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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OBJECTIVES: To discover what dentists require of a hospital response letter with regards to content and timeliness. DESIGN: Postal survey. SETTING: South Wales. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A postal questionnaire was issued to all dentists (n = 256) who had referred a patient to the dental hospital between 1 January 2003 and 1 March 2003. RESULTS: The response rate was 60.2% (154). The preferred time frame for the receipt of a letter following a patient's appointment was one to three weeks for 96.4% (n = 133) of respondents, but 58.4% believed that they currently do not receive responses within this time frame. The preferred method of communication remained the letter (n = 82, 53%), followed by the telephone (n = 58, 38%). E-mail accounted for eight percent (n = 12) of communication. Most respondents (70%, n = 107) were satisfied with the letters' content. Eight of the ten items of information suggested as being appropriate in a response letter were considered essential by 53.2% of dentists (n = 82), and 55.8% (n = 76) believed the remaining two items to be desirable. CONCLUSIONS: Dentists agree closely on the information required in a response letter and most are satisfied with the content of current response letters. However, many dentists believe response letters arrive later than three weeks after their patient's appointment. |
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Authors:
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P Tomlinson; R McAndrew |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: British dental journal Volume: 200 ISSN: 0007-0610 ISO Abbreviation: Br Dent J Publication Date: 2006 Jun |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2006-06-12 Completed Date: 2006-08-09 Revised Date: 2007-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7513219 Medline TA: Br Dent J Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 621-3; discussion 617 Citation Subset: D; IM |
Affiliation:
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University Dental Hospital Cardiff, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XY. tomlinsonpm2@cardiff.ac.uk |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Correspondence as Topic Dental Service, Hospital* Feedback* General Practice, Dental / statistics & numerical data* Humans Interprofessional Relations* Questionnaires Referral and Consultation* Time Factors Wales |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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