Search

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "Childhood Poisoning: The Promise and Abandonment of Primary Prevention," by Herbert Needleman in the 1998 issue.

Three techniques for improving immunization levels among school-age children were tested and then compared for most effective use of school nurses' time. Method A involved reviewing school immunization records, specifically inviting immunization-deficient children to a school-based clinic, with some follow-up to achieve good response. Method B involved sending out permission slips for a school-based clinic to all students without additional investment of nursing time. Method C involved a health education program encouraging parents to have their children immunized on their own. Using an average of 38 hours of school nurse time, Method A succeeded significantly better than Method B in immunization levels, while giving fewer unnecessary improvement of immunization levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Physicians in the Denver Metropolitan Area were randomly assigned to study groups and exposed to an intervention designed to test current hypotheses concerning the reasons for underreporting of gonorrhea (lack of saliency in the request patient interference, violation of the physician patient relationship insufficient rewards and excessive administrative cost to the reporter). A periodic telephone contact initiated by the Health Department and requiring only contact between clerical personnel, more than doubled the number of reported cases. The effect was most striking for those who had not previously reported and for doctors who practiced alone. An estimate of 42 percent was obtained for the proportion of cases reported substantially higher than that produced by retrospective surveys based on recall. The impact of undernotification on total morbidity will vary with the preexisting mix of public and privates reporting. The telephone reporting system appears to be an inexpensive and effective program tool for determining that impact locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article about the HIV partner notification program by Ron Bayer and Kathleen Toomey in the August 1992 issue.