The effects of audit and feedback and electronic referrals on the quality of primary care referral letters.

Introduction: Appropriate referral from primary care to hospital specialists is a critical component of general practice patient management. This study investigated the quality of such referrals in a group of general practitioners (GPs) and nurses.

Aim: To assess whether feedback improves the quality of referral letters from general practice to secondary care and how electronic referrals affect the quality of referral letters.

Chlamydia trachomatis testing sensitivity in midstream compared with first-void urine specimens.

Purpose: Traditionally first-void urine specimens are used to test for Chlamydia trachomatis. In contrast, midstream urine specimens are traditionally recommended for microscopy and culture of presumptive bacterial urinary tract infections. The ability to test for both C trachomatis and urinary tract infection on a single midstream urine specimen would greatly aid clinical practice, as an urinary tract infection is an extremely common complaint in primary care.

Randomised controlled trial of intravenous antibiotic treatment for cellulitis at home compared with hospital.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of treatment with intravenous antibiotics for cellulitis at home and in hospital.

Design: Prospective randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Christchurch, New Zealand.

Why do parents choose not to immunise their children?

Aims: To ascertain the reasons why some parents choose not to immunise their children and where these parents obtained their immunisation information.

Methods: Seventy general practitioners (GPs) in Christchurch who kept a record of children whose parents declined immunisation were asked to recruit these parents. Half of the GPs were able to invite the 76 parents of children declining immunisation to take part in this study.

Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence and sexual behaviour in Christchurch high school students.

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among young people in Year 12 and Year 13 in Christchurch secondary schools.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey on sexual behaviour was carried out in conjunction with the collection of urine samples, which were tested for C. trachomatis.

Toys are a potential source of cross-infection in general practitioners' waiting rooms.

The waiting rooms of general practitioners' surgeries usually have toys provided for children. The level of contamination of these toys and the effectiveness of toy decontamination was investigated in this study. Hard toys from general practitioners' waiting rooms had relatively low levels of contamination, with only 13.