Health services should collect feedback from inpatients at the point of service: opinions from patients and staff in acute and subacute facilities.

Objective: Point of service feedback (POSF) enables patients to give health services feedback about their experiences during or immediately after care. Despite the increasing use of POSF, little is known regarding patients' and staffs' opinions of this practice and whether they consider it acceptable or useful. The study aimed to determine patient and staff opinions regarding POSF.

Risk factors for Mycobacterium ulcerans infection, southeastern Australia.

Buruli/Bairnsdale ulcer (BU) is a severe skin and soft tissue disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. To better understand how BU is acquired, we conducted a case-control study during a sustained outbreak in temperate southeastern Australia. We recruited 49 adult patients with BU and 609 control participants from a newly recognized BU-endemic area in southeastern Australia.

Mycobacterium ulcerans infection: factors influencing diagnostic delay.

Objective: To document the epidemiology, clinical characteristics and diagnosis of an outbreak of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection (Bairnsdale or Buruli ulcer [BU]) during the period 1998-2006, and compare delays in diagnosis between residents of endemic and non-endemic regions.

Design And Setting: Retrospective case study of patients identified through infectious disease physicians on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Victorian Department of Human Services notifiable diseases database.

Main Outcome Measures: Description of events leading to diagnosis of BU.