title: Audit of receptionists' records of symptoms and concurrence with clinician consultation: data collected for the Department of Health.
abstract: Audit of reliability of data collected by genitourinary (GU) medicine reception staff in north Cumbria for Department of Health mandatory returns suggests that receptionist-logged presence or absence of symptoms does not concur well with subsequent symptom disclosure to clinicians during consultations, even after the use of patient-completed symptom-specific questionnaires. Triage or fast-tracking based upon symptoms in order to select those at risk of sexually transmitted infection (STI) is likely to fail for a significant proportion of patients. Department of Health symptoms data need to be interpreted with caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, Coventry, UK. drbstanley@btinternet.com
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gibson
mesh_terms: D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008496:Medical Receptionists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012107:Research Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy