Finding orthopedic patients lost to follow-up for long-term outcomes research using the Internet: an update for 2012.
case_series · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 22784887.
- Also identified by DOI 10.3928/01477447-20120621-06.
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Abstract
The Internet is available to researchers as a tool for studying long-term outcomes, but no recent research exists on how to best use it. The authors hypothesize that using the Internet can be at least 75% effective in locating patients lost to follow-up. With Institutional Review Board approval, the authors searched for 66 patients lost to follow-up after a period of 10 years or more with no contact. They tested an Internet searching protocol developed in 2004 and developed an alternate protocol. In all, 74% (49/66) of patients were located.
Medical subject headings
- Biomedical Research
- Continuity of Patient Care
- Data Mining
- Health Records, Personal
- Internet
- Lost to Follow-Up
- Orthopedics