Evaluation of a visit preparation intervention implemented in two rural, underserved counties of Northern California

Objective
Evaluate satisfaction with visit preparation at three rural resource center sites.
Methods
The resource centers sent eight employees and two volunteers for training at UCSF in Consultation Planning (CP). CP is a service to help patients make a list of questions before seeing their doctors. Researchers used multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis to investigate the variation in satisfaction among 99 CP Clients served by the resource centers in 2003.
Results
Sixty-seven CP Clients who completed surveys were highly satisfied (mean = 8.67, standard deviation (S.D.) = 1.85, range = 5–10). Variation in satisfaction was associated only with whether or not the CP Provider was a breast cancer survivor serving a breast patient (p = 0.005). Satisfaction was not associated with CP Client demographics; type of upcoming medical visit; or CP Provider age, remuneration status, nursing background, and volume of CP Clients.
Conclusion
Community-based resource centers have implemented CP to the satisfaction of their clients. Further research should expand the delivery of CP to more underserved members of the community and evaluate its acceptability and impact. There may be a therapeutic alliance formed when survivors provide CP to newly diagnosed patients.
Practice implications
CP should be considered by patient support programs wishing to expand their client services to include visit preparation.