BACKGROUND Non-attendance and late arrivals diminish patient flow in outpatient clinics. On the other hand, patient earliness may also be undesirable. Physicians often experience that older patients are more punctual than younger patients, and often they come excessively early. The aim of this study was to determine whether an association between age and outpatient clinic arrival time could be ...

BACKGROUND The environmental sources of sporadic, community-acquired legionnaires' disease are largely unknown, and culturing of water sources after identification of a case is currently not recommended. We conducted a prospective study of sporadic cases of community-acquired legionnaires' disease to determine whether the environmental reservoirs could be identified. METHODS We cultured sampl...

BACKGROUND Nonattendance at scheduled appointments in public hospitals presents a challenge for efficient resource use and may ultimately affect health outcomes due to longer waiting times. Seven percent of all scheduled outpatient appointments in the United Kingdom are estimated to be nonattended. Various reminder systems have been shown to moderately reduce nonattendance, although the effect ...

BACKGROUND Brief intervention is effective for alcohol misuse, but not adequately tested in the clinical setting with drug using patients. This study tested the impact of a single, structured encounter targeting cessation of drug use, conducted between peer educators and out-of-treatment cocaine and heroin users screened in the context of a routine medical visit. METHODS A randomized, control...

COPD in Denmark The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Denmark is among the highest in the world [1]. This is mainly caused by a very high prevalence of smoking in both men and women throughout the latest 5 decades. Although the percentage of daily smokers among adult Danes has steadily declined to around 20% in 2011, COPD and other smoking related conditions are stil...

One hundred non-smoking patients attending hospital outpatient clinics reported their degree of passive exposure to tobacco smoke over the preceding three days and provided samples of blood, expired air, saliva, and urine. Although the absolute levels were low, the concentration of cotinine in all body compartments surveyed was systematically related to self reported exposure. Salivary nicotine...

OBJECTIVES To determine neurootological and psychiatric abnormalities associated with complaints of dizziness in an epidemiological community sample of people of working age, and the extent of comorbidity between neuro-otological and psychiatric dysfunction. METHOD A survey of 3884 people randomly selected from six general practice lists identified 262 people with significant dizziness, from ...

OBJECTIVES To determine the one year period prevalence of falls by age and sex in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and the influence of concurrent medical treatment and disability on the occurrence of falls in this group. METHODS A consecutive series of rheumatoid patients aged 35 years and over, attending hospital outpatient clinics at Hope hospital, Salford, were asked to complete an inte...

BACKGROUND Despite compelling evidence of the benefits of treatment and well-accepted guidelines for treatment, hypertension is controlled in less than one-half of United States citizens. METHODS/DESIGN This randomized controlled trial tests whether explicit financial incentives promote the translation of guideline-recommended care for hypertension into clinical practice and improve blood pre...