Programs such as routine follow-up phone calls are an important part of public health. These programs are developed as a means to enhance the medical care offered by physicians. It brings many services to the public, making them more accessible for everyone. Integrating outreach programs in order to provide services to help meet the needs of a chronically ill population is of great importance to the field of public health.
It is vital for patients with sickle cell disease to adhere to comprehensive care in order to decrease the morbidity and mortality of the disease. Patients who do not adhere to the recommended routine of care set forth by their physicians run the risk of developing serious complications or even death. The Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh has established an outreach program that is aimed at increasing attendance to comprehensive care clinic, as well as educating patients and their families about sickle cell disease. All active patients were routinely contacted via phone in order to remind them to schedule an appointment in the clinic and to provide a range of services over the phone, such as prescription refills, answering questions about sickle cell disease, and psychosocial support. The patients were also asked questions about their home care routine so as to follow-up with them. This outreach program has been successful in increasing attendance to comprehensive clinic and in increasing the number of patients who are compliant with annual screenings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04152005-152946 |
| Date | 14 June 2005 |
| Creators | Patik, Meredith Suzann |
| Contributors | James Butler, PhD, Elizabeth Gettig, Lakshmanan Krishnamurti, MD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04152005-152946/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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