Efficiency of address cards, experienced health visitors and motivated registry clerks in obtaining the home address of urban patients in South India

Radhakrishna, S and Satagopan, M C and Krishnaswami, K V and Tripathy, S P and Fox, Wallace (1979) Efficiency of address cards, experienced health visitors and motivated registry clerks in obtaining the home address of urban patients in South India. Tubercle, 60 (3). pp. 151-157. ISSN 0041-3879

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Abstract

The address card, a card on which the patient’s home address is asked to be recorded by the local postman, or by a knowledgeable and literate neighbour, relative or friend, was investigated for acceptability and efficiency in 4 tuberculosis outpatient clinics, in an urban community with substantial levels of illiteracy in Madras City. In the 4 clinics combined, 96% of the patients who reattended returned the completed card. Letters posted to the address on the card were received by 85 % of 419 patients, while 5 % were returned by the post office as undelivered and a further 4 % were, in all probability, not delivered; no information was available about the remaining 6 %. A formal comparison in 392 of the above patients demonstrated the address card method to be significantly more efficient than interrogation byexperienced health visitors. A retrospective comparison suggested that the efficiency of experienced health visitors was slightly better than that of highly motivated registry clerks, the proportions of letters received being 72 % and 65 % respectively.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Tuberculosis > Biostatistics
Divisions:	Statistics
Depositing User:	Dr. Rathinasabapati R
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2013 10:44
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2016 04:54
URI:	http://eprints.nirt.res.in/id/eprint/139

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