Abstract
Objective: We investigated the change in examination rate for secondary testing due to improved guidance methods and examined future issues.
Methods: The subjects of this study were health check-up examinees who were deemed to require additional testing based on the results of a physical examination and medical interview performed by a doctor, during the period from April 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015. We made a list of these subjects and investigated whether they underwent secondary testing from electronic medical records held by our medical care department or response documents from other medical institutions. We compared the findings with those from a period in which we used an improved guidance method. For the years 2014 and 2015, we compared examination rates by examination type and age group.
Results: The examination rate in 2012 was 62.6%, but it gradually increased and was 84.5% in 2015. The rate for examinees who went to other medical institutions despite the doctor referring them to our department was 1.2% in 2012 but had increased to 8.5% in 2015.
Conclusions: Reasons for the increase in the examination rate were thought to be improvement in the guidance methods based on an evaluation of changes made the previous year, such as provision of better support by nurses and a special referral prepared by a doctor for an examinee who changed their mind and wanted to go to another medical institution, and addition of a reply space to the special referral form so that other institutions could inform us by FAX (or mail) when the examinee underwent the secondary testing.
