The Swansea electronic referrals project.

A system was developed to allow general practitioners in Swansea to send urgent cancer referrals electronically to consultants at the South West Wales Cancer Centre. Five practices from the Swansea area took part in a pilot trial. Information was extracted from the system to evaluate the e-referral activity of the first six months, during which a total of 99 referrals were submitted electronically; most (81%) were processed within one hour. Evaluation interviews were conducted with staff at the general practices, who were asked to rate the system on a 10-point Likert scale (1 = completely dissatisfied to 10 = completely satisfied); the lowest satisfaction rating given by the practices was 8. The staff agreed that the use of a standard form was beneficial and improved the quality of the referral information submitted to consultants.

Culturally competent HIV prevention strategies for women of color in the United States.

Many studies suggest that aspects of culture be included in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education efforts in the United States. Few, however, clearly identify specific strategies that respond to the unique cultural issues of women of color. This article reviews the literature for culturally competent HIV prevention efforts for women of color--Latina, African American, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American--and synthesizes components that need to be addressed in programs and interventions. Findings suggest that for programs to be culturally competent, both race/ethnicity and gender, along with population-specific, culturally based attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, must be considered in interpersonal and organizational strategies.