Sm. Austin et al., EFFECT OF PHYSICIAN REMINDERS ON PREVENTIVE CARE - METAANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CLINICAL-TRIALS, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 1994, pp. 121-124
Citations number
8
Categorie Soggetti
Information Science & Library Science","Medicine Miscellaneus","Computer Science Information Systems
The objective of this study was to assess the clinical value of the ph
ysician reminder, an information intervention, in increasing complianc
e for selected preventive health care measures. Meta-analysis was used
to combine the quantitative evidence from randomized controlled clini
cal trials meeting the eligibility criteria. The trials included in th
is meta-analysis were conducted in a family or internal medicine clini
c. Physician reminders were used in the trials to influence utilizatio
n and compliance of preventive health care activities. The use of phys
ician reminders for preventive health care activities resulted in a ho
mogeneous effect for the subcategories of cervical cancer screening (t
est for heterogeneity X2(2) = 4.122, non-significant) and tetanus immu
nization (test for heterogeneity X2(2) = 3.139, non-significant). Simi
larly, the odds ratio from the combination of evidence from the three
cervical cancer screening trials was significant (1.180, 95 percent CI
: 1.020 to 1.339). The resulting odds ratio from the combination of ev
idence from the three tetanus immunization trials was significant (2.8
19, 95 percent CI: 2.664 to 2.975). The results of the meta-analyses f
or cervical cancer screening and tetanus immunizations indicate that p
hysician reminders are an effective information intervention and can i
mprove compliance for these two preventive health care procedures. Bas
ed on the results of this meta-analysis, further trials testing the ef
fect of physician reminders on tetanus immunization would be unnecessa
ry and probably unethical.