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The purpose of this study was to investigate a reminder to discuss cervical cancer screening with hospitalized females. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the association of a reminder intervention for nurse practitioners with two outcomes: prevalence of cervical cancer screening as documented in patients' charts and patients' self-report of cervical cancer screening 4 months after discharge. Data were collected by chart review and phone survey. The sample consisted of nurse practitioners caring for eligible female patients at a university teaching hospital. Chi-square was used to test all research questions. The rate of documentation of cervical cancer screening increased from 2% to 69% after implementation of the reminder intervention. The reminder intervention did not impact patients actually receiving Pap smears after discharge. The significant increase in documentation of screening associated with the use of the single reminder in the patients' charts support the use of this low-cost intervention.

Background. Late presentation of patients at advanced stages of disease forms the hallmark of breast cancer in Nigerian women. The peak age of breast cancer presentation among Nigerian women is about 10-15 years earlier than what is observed in Caucasian women, where it occurs between the ages of 35-45 years. This study assessed breast cancer knowledge and behavior in terms of screening practices among introductory clinical medical students in Delta State. Nigeria. Materials and Method. The data consisted of selected and constructed response items on a questionnaire which was administered to all introductory clinical (medical) students 18 years and older. Participation in this study was voluntary. The instrument consisted of multiple choice questions that measured variables such as general breast cancer knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, barriers, use of breast cancer screening tests, screening practices, and demographic characteristics. Results. A total of 18 questionnaires were distributed to introductory clinical (medical) students age 18 years and above at the Delta State University in Warri, Nigeria. The response rate was 100%. Age range of respondents was 21-26 years. The overall knowledge of breast cancer was 89.1% while knowledge of the risk factors for breast cancer development was 62.7%. Knowledge of breast cancer symptoms was 67.8%. There were no barriers to breast screening exercises. All the participants admitted performing breast self examination regularly but 22.2% did not know how often breast examination should be done. Three participants (16.7%) have never been told about breast cancer screening by a nurse or physician previously and 16 students (88.9%) have never had a clinical breast examination. Conclusion. While the overall knowledge of breast-cancer, risk factors and performance of breast self examination were good, further studies on a wider scale in Nigeria are needed to elucidate reasons why the elite women do not present themselves for clinical breast examination and why the physicians do not practice routine clinical breast examination. Keywords: Breast-cancer knowledge | Breast-cancer screening practices | Medical students, Introduction Every woman is at some risk of developing breast cancer. There are diverse risk factors that may affect each woman's susceptibility to the disease (1). Breast cancer is the [...]

2003 JAN 23 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Changing physicians' behavior so they give sexually active teenage girls a simple urine test during a routine doctor's visit is an effective [...]

Goal: To determine chlamydia screening practices and the resulting positive test results for adolescents enrolled in a large nonprofit managed care organization. Study Design: The electronic medical records of all 12- to 19-year-olds enrolled in a large nonprofit managed care organization serving a demographically diverse patient population from January 1998 through December 1999 were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Among the 43,205 female and 44,133 male managed care organization members, ages 12 to 19 years in 1998-1999, 7575 adolescents (8.7%) (6914 females [16%] and 661 males [1.5%]) were tested for chlamydia. Among the members tested, chlamydia was diagnosed in 1109 adolescents (14.6%) (983 females [14.2] and 126 males [19.1%]); 761 (68.6%) adolescents were retested for chlamydia; and 182 (16.4%) had repeat positive test results. The median time to diagnosis of a repeat infection was 6 months. Conclusions: Chlamydia imposes a large disease burden in the private, organized healthcare sector. Managed care organizations can use operational data to enhance chlamydia prevention services by defining testing practices and local disease prevalence.

ATLANTA -- All healthy adolescents and adults born in the United States after 1965 should be assessed for varicella immunity and vaccinated if susceptible, the Centers for Disease Control and [...]

SAN FRANCISCO -- First-trimester screening for aneuploidy may soon become the standard of care, Robert H. Ball, M.D., predicted at a meeting on antepartum and intrapartum management sponsored by the [...]

There is often a debate over the relative benefits of universal and selective (or 'targeted') screening. For example, in antenatal screening for sickle cell disease performing a blood test on [...]

Older Americans are not participating in screening for colorectal cancer and the HCFA is launching a public awareness campaign.

Leading specialists are competing for medical screening business and some are offering free insurance for children. Over 65s were traditionally charged double premiums, particularly for travel outside Europe, and more companies are now introducing medical screeing, which they see as the alternative to increased premiums. Ketteridge Group has abolished all age loadings subject to medical screening, but ABC Holiday Extras has dropped medical screening, although there are still conditions.

A survey by LifeLink, corporate health specialist, commissioned by Hogg Robinson Financial Services, shows that employers and their staff benefit from staff screening. Some 98% of employees screened found screening beneficial and most would like to be screened every year. As a result of screening, employees have reduced smoking and alcohol consumption and improved their diet and increased exercise. About 20% of those screened were referred to their general practioner with health problems not formerly diagnosed.