Strategies to Improve Attendance Ratio of People Requiring Colon Cancer Workup: Effects of Educational Meetings for Residents / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

The number of people who participate in our mass screening program for the detection of colorectal neoplasms has been increasing year by year. Regrettably, though, only 60% to 70% of those screened with positive tests have complied with doctors' exhortations about receiving workup.<BR>To improve the low attendance ratio of colon cancer candidates, the first thing we did was to hold classes for public health nurses at city, town and village levels to update their knowledge as professional health supervisors and to perceive the need to enlighten the public.<BR>Following these classes, we sponsored educational lectures directed to the inhabitants in various districts with the cooperation of public health nurses there. Emphasis was placed on the importance of regular physicals and the need of workup in the case of positive screenings. Using slides, lecturers presented eveyday health-related data and explained the procedures and the medical equipment used in the screening and testing processes, using plain language.<BR>As a result of these efforts, the workup attendance ratio is on the rise in every district, with the average ratio now reaching 80%.