Scheduling delay in suspected cases of oral cancer

Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

Michel-Crosato, Edgard¹  Souza, Luciana Meneses¹  Antunes, José Leopoldo Ferreira¹  Biazevic, Maria Gabriela Haye¹ 

[1] Universidade de São Paulo

关键词: Mouth neoplasms;    Dental health services;    Human resources;    Dental staff;    Dentistry;    Dental prosthesis;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-790X2011000400011

学科分类：过敏症与临床免疫学

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The objective ofthe study was to evaluate scheduling delay of dental exams in the city of SãoPaulo of patients suspected of having oral cancer. A cross-sectional study wasperformed in which telephone conversations simulated clinical situations thatrepresented two types of patients: one presenting symptoms suggestive of oralcancer (CA), and another one suggesting the need for prostheses (PR). The schedulingdelay was evaluated by the days until an appointment for care; and among publicoffices, by type of schedule (emergency or routine). Negative binomial regressionwas used (95% statistical significance). Five hundred and seventy-five publicand private dental offices participated in the study. The mean scheduling delayfor the CA group was 2.88 days, and for the PR group, 4.34 days (p = 0.01).The mean scheduling delay was shorter in private dental offices (2.59 days)than in offices that accepted health insurance (2.74 days) (p = 0.01); the delaywas shorter when performed by the dentist rather than by the dental assistant,2.45 versus 4.21 days (p = 0.01). In public services, 69% of patients in thecancer group were sent to the emergency service. Dental services were accessiblefor scheduling clinical examinations among patients suspected of having oralcancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY