Abstract:The GDPs who responded to the questionnaires felt that a bullet point format or summary style report from the consultants concerned would summarise cases more clearly and concisely than the conventional standard format letters which they had previously received. Opportunities may exist for improving the quality of consultant reply letters through the use of structured templates and/or a summary or bullet point format.
“…Studies have shown that factors such as the color of text, word choice, and font style all affect processing fluency and thus shape individuals’ ability and understand the information they receive (Rennekamp ; Song and Schwarz 2006; Whittlesea ). Similar findings in the medical sciences reveal that some methods of structuring medical reports make it easier for the lay public to learn about complex health issues than others (Saha and Summerwill ). The key conclusion is that fluent methods of information presentation tend to improve citizens’ ability to use the information communicated to them (Miele and Molden ).…”
Section: Linking Policy Transparency To Policy Understandingmentioning
confidence: 61%
“…The key conclusion is that fluent methods of information presentation tend to improve citizens’ ability to use the information communicated to them (Miele and Molden ). By rendering information more usable, enhancing the processing fluency of a message also improves individuals’ ability to understand the information they are exposed to (Paas, Renkl, and Sweller ; Saha and Summerwill ). This is because improving fluency makes it easier for individuals to sift through noise and pick up on the signal of interest (Sweller ). Hypothesis 1 : Policy information presented in a high‐fluency format will be better understood than information presented in a low‐fluency format.…”
Section: Linking Policy Transparency To Policy Understandingmentioning
Voluntary policy compliance is an important yet rarely studied topic in public administration. To address the paucity of research, this article proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework that ties policy transparency and policy understanding to voluntary policy compliance intentions. The reasoning is that the extent to which citizens understand a policy contributes to their intentions to comply with that policy. Further, the authors argue that policy transparency indirectly influences voluntary policy compliance intentions through a positive effect on citizens' levels of policy understanding. To enhance the validity of the findings, the authors assess these relationships across two policy domains. The findings reflect an indirect positive effect of transparency on voluntary compliance occurring through policy understanding. However, this emerged only for one policy domain. These results suggest that the effects of policy transparency on policy understanding and voluntary policy compliance intentions may depend on the policy domain.Acknowledging these important gaps in transparency and compliance research, the objective of this article is to examine how government transparency shapes citizens' voluntary policy compliance. As we will explain in greater detail later, voluntary policy compliance can be understood as citizens' willingness to comply with a government request related to a particular policy. In addressing our research objective,
“…Studies have shown that factors such as the color of text, word choice, and font style all affect processing fluency and thus shape individuals’ ability and understand the information they receive (Rennekamp ; Song and Schwarz 2006; Whittlesea ). Similar findings in the medical sciences reveal that some methods of structuring medical reports make it easier for the lay public to learn about complex health issues than others (Saha and Summerwill ). The key conclusion is that fluent methods of information presentation tend to improve citizens’ ability to use the information communicated to them (Miele and Molden ).…”
Section: Linking Policy Transparency To Policy Understandingmentioning
confidence: 61%
“…The key conclusion is that fluent methods of information presentation tend to improve citizens’ ability to use the information communicated to them (Miele and Molden ). By rendering information more usable, enhancing the processing fluency of a message also improves individuals’ ability to understand the information they are exposed to (Paas, Renkl, and Sweller ; Saha and Summerwill ). This is because improving fluency makes it easier for individuals to sift through noise and pick up on the signal of interest (Sweller ). Hypothesis 1 : Policy information presented in a high‐fluency format will be better understood than information presented in a low‐fluency format.…”
Section: Linking Policy Transparency To Policy Understandingmentioning
Voluntary policy compliance is an important yet rarely studied topic in public administration. To address the paucity of research, this article proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework that ties policy transparency and policy understanding to voluntary policy compliance intentions. The reasoning is that the extent to which citizens understand a policy contributes to their intentions to comply with that policy. Further, the authors argue that policy transparency indirectly influences voluntary policy compliance intentions through a positive effect on citizens' levels of policy understanding. To enhance the validity of the findings, the authors assess these relationships across two policy domains. The findings reflect an indirect positive effect of transparency on voluntary compliance occurring through policy understanding. However, this emerged only for one policy domain. These results suggest that the effects of policy transparency on policy understanding and voluntary policy compliance intentions may depend on the policy domain.Acknowledging these important gaps in transparency and compliance research, the objective of this article is to examine how government transparency shapes citizens' voluntary policy compliance. As we will explain in greater detail later, voluntary policy compliance can be understood as citizens' willingness to comply with a government request related to a particular policy. In addressing our research objective,
“…This leaves no room for the health worker to use his or her discretion as to what variable to fill in and what not to for each patient. Although one study33 showed that a letter with formatted content has the potential to enhance the quality of referral letters, other studies23 37 showed that general practitioners preferred to have referral forms with less required items and would rather write a summary based on what they consider important for each patient rather than fill a form with mandatory fields. In that same study in Australia,33 eight items were rated as essential information by a majority of referral letter recipients who are practitioners, and these include the diagnosis, clinical findings, test results, treatment options and recommendations, and prognosis.…”
ObjectiveTo assess the completeness of obstetric referral letters/notes at the district level of healthcare.DesignAn implementation research within three districts in Greater Accra region using mixed methods. During baseline and intervention phases, referral processes for all obstetric referrals from lower level facilities seen at the district hospitals were documented including indications for referrals, availability and completeness of referral notes/forms. An assessment of before and after intervention availability and completeness of referral forms was carried out. Focus group discussions, non-participant observations and in-depth interviews with health workers and pregnant women were conducted for qualitative data.SettingThree (3) districts in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.ParticipantsPregnant women referred from lower levels of care to and seen at the district hospital, health workers within the three districts and pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in the district and their family members or spouses.InterventionAn enhanced interfacility referral communication system consisting of training, provision of communication tools for facilities, formation of hospital referral teams and strengthening feedback mechanisms.OutcomeCompleteness of obstetric referral letters/notes.ResultsProportion of obstetric referrals with referral notes improved from 27.2% to 44.3% from the baseline to intervention period. Mean completeness (95% CI) of all forms was 71.3% (64.1% to 78.5%) for the study period, improving from 70.7% (60.4% to 80.9%) to 71.9% (61.1% to 82.7%) from baseline to intervention periods. Health workers reported they do not always provide referral notes and that most referral notes are not completely filled due to various reasons.ConclusionsMost obstetric referrals did not have referral notes. The few notes provided were not completely filled. Interventions such as training of health workers, regular review of referral processes and use of electronic records can help improve both the provision of and completeness of the referral notes.
This audit provides evidence that GDPs consider that a significant portion of the information in consultants' reply letters is not needed. Relevant information may be poorly communicated.
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