Feasibility of utilising address card system for obtaining accurate address of patients under programme conditions

摘要

An addresscard, one on which patient's home address is asked to be recorded by a person knowing for sure the patient's address, was investigated for acceptability and efficiency, in two Government hospitals located in semiurban areas and six Primary Health Centres located in rural areas in North Arcot district. In all 394 address-cards were given to the patients from the eight centres, of which 374 were returned with the address filled in, showing an acceptability rate of 95%. In all, 373 Type A letters were then posted to these addresscard addresses in respect of which acknowledgment cards were received back from 306 (82%) patients. For 140 patients, the recorded addresses were found to be the same as on the addresscard and the treatment card: In the remaining 233, there was some difference between the two addresses. Type B letters were then posted to the 233 patients at their treatment card address. No definite information was available regarding the receipt of one or both types of letters in respect of 80 patients; so, an attempt was made to visit these patients in their homes to find out the fate of these letters. Of these, no information could be collected in 9 patients.udud Out of 224 patients for whom information regarding the receipt of letter was available, 143 (64%) patients received both letters and 16 (7%) received neither Type A nor Type B letter. Twenty one (9%) had probably or definitely not received the Type A letter, but had received the Type B letter. Forty four (20%) had definitely or probably not received the Type B letter, but had received the Type A letter.