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Introduction As part of the National Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program, all persons aged 50 – 74 are sent Hemoccult tests to their home address. The return rate of the tests in the Republic of Croatia in 2010 was 19.7%. The National Program does not include family medicine in the phase of inviting, registration and data processing. Objective: To include the family medicine teams in screening tests for occult bleeding and to increase the return of the tests in order for them to be processed further. Methods For the group of 600 examinees of both genders, who have been sent the Hemoccult test by mail, a control group was selected by system of corresponding pairs (age, gender, place of residence). Family medicine teams (physician, nurse and visiting nurse) organized a series of activities for the control group, with the aim of motivating the patients to undergo the screening test and return their tests for analysis. Interventions of family medicine teams included invitations, distribution of promotional material, group lectures and interviews with the families of the examinees. Results The return rate of the Hemoccult tests was 19.1% in the examinee group and 42.2% in the control group. Women had better response (48.6%) than men (37.1%). Furthermore, people living in rural areas had better response (44.8%) than those living in urban areas (39.1%). Conclusion By including family medicine teams into the programs of early detection of colorectal cancer we can achieve a significantly higher response rate and a higher return rate of the Hemoccult tests. The first-contact-physicians have the possibility of motivating their patients. Activities of the family medicine teams are best accepted among women and people residing in rural areas. |
