Using Patients' Social Contact to Improve Out-Patient Endoscopy Among Blacks

Improving Attendance to Outpatient Endoscopy Among Blacks

Non-attendance to out-patient endoscopic procedures is high among underserved blacks. The overall goal of this proposal is to evaluate the effect of directly involving a social contact (chosen by the patient) on completion and quality of out-patient endoscopy recommended for the patient by his/her primary care physician, or after scheduling by the gastrointestinal endoscopist.

Improved adherence and better quality of procedures are postulated with involvement of social contacts.

The overarching goal of this proposal is to determine whether directly involving a social contact, chosen by the patient, will improve the completion and quality of scheduled out-patient endoscopy among blacks.

These are three sub-projects:

Project 1: Involves recruiting 400 patients referred for colonoscopy by their primary care physicians

Project 2: Involves recruiting 400 patients scheduled for colonoscopy by their endoscopist

Project 3: Involves recruiting 200 patients scheduled for upper endoscopy by their endoscopists

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients referred for out-patient colonoscopy by primary care physicians
• Patients scheduled for out-patient screening colonoscopy
• Patients scheduled for out-patient upper endoscopy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who were referred for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening as in-patients
• Patients with personal history of familial adenomatous polyposis syndrome (FAP)
• Patients with family history of Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome (HNPCC)
• Patients with inflammatory bowel disease
• Patients with Crohn's disease
• Patients with ulcerative colitis
• Patients with personal history of CRC
• Patients who have had colonic resection