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PROS Referral Study |
The Referral
Study
The study occurs in three phases:
• Completion of the Referral Practitioner QuestionnaireProtocol summary:
• A 20-Day Baseline Data Collection Period
• Follow-up Data Collection on a Subset of Patients1. Each practitioner will fill out a short (takes about 5 minutes) questionnaire that gives baseline data on him or her.2. Data on referrals will be collected over 20 consecutive office days (half-days included).
3. For the first 10 days an office visit log will be completed. Each patient that is seen will have minimal data recorded. As a result the log is very straightforward.
4. During days 11-20, simply a tally of the number of patients seen will be kept (takes about 5 seconds per day).
5. When the practitioner identifies a patient in the office who needs to be referred for specialty care, s/he fills out a brief referral questionnaire (takes 30-60 seconds).
6. After the practitioner or staff explains the study to the parent and patient (if old enough to understand) and receives verbal permission to do the study, the parent or guardian fills out a questionnaire. In the pilot study the return rate dropped if parents took these forms home. Parent should be encourged to filled out the form and handed it to the nurse or receptionist before leaving the office. It took parents 3-5 minutes to complete.
7. If the practitioner talks with a parent over the phone during regular office hours and decides to make a referral, s/he also fills out a referral questionnaire. Parents are not asked to complete a questionnaire under these circumstances.
8. Every time a referral is made, the name of the patient is entered on a referral log that will be kept in the practitioner’s office. This referral log will be used in step #9.
9. Approximately three months after the practitioner begins the study, the PROS central office will send follow-up questionnaires on ten patients for the practitioner and parents to complete. Parents will only fill out these follow-up questionnaires if the referral is made in the office.
10. Practice will be reimbursed $100 as a token of appreciation for participating in the study.
| Core support for the PROS network is provided by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau |  |
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