title: Preventive health pamphlets in the emergency department.
abstract: We conducted a prospective clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of an emergency department informational pamphlet in improving patients' compliance with recommendations that they receive Pap smears, mammograms, and a pneumococcal vaccination. Informational pamphlets were distributed to 1,000 consecutive patients who presented to a university-affiliated emergency department (ED). The pamphlet contained information stating the indications for obtaining routine Pap smears, mammograms, and a pneumococcal vaccination. Target individuals were women 18 years and older and men 65 years and older. Target patients were called approximately 2 months after their ED visits to obtain follow-up data. There were 464 target patients obtained from the 1,000 pamphlets distributed (409 female/55 male), and 68% (316) of the 464 were contacted by telephone for follow-up data. Significantly more women than men had read the pamphlet (62% vs. 8%). Of the women contacted (279), 31.9% (89) were not up to date (UTD) with Pap smears, and 11.2% (10) stated that they had scheduled an appointment for a Pap smear; 14.5% (11) of the women were not UTD with mammograms, and none had scheduled an appointment to receive care. Of the patients over age 65, 67% were not UTD with a pneumococcal vaccination, and no appointments were scheduled to obtain one. We conclude that a significant number of patients who present to this ED are in need of preventive health care. Emergency department informational pamphlets may have a role in improving Pap smear compliance. Women may be more likely then men to read informational pamphlets distributed in the ED.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, UCSD Medical Center, San Diego, California 92103-8676, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luskin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D011315:Preventive Medicine; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology; D014481:United States; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D001428:Bacterial Vaccines