Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Aug 31;7(8):350-4.
doi: 10.4066/AMJ.2014.2132. eCollection 2014.

A win for the patient: Direct patient notification improves treatment rates of active Helicobacter pylori infection

Sriharan Selvaratnam  1 , Joey Yeoh  1 , John Hsiang  2 , Alasdair B Patrick  2
Affiliations

A win for the patient: Direct patient notification improves treatment rates of active Helicobacter pylori infection

Sriharan Selvaratnam et al. Australas Med J. .

Abstract

Background: Current international guidelines recommend the commencement of effective eradication therapy as soon as active Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is confirmed. At our institution, all positive Campylobacter-like Organism (CLO) test results were automatically communicated to general practitioners (GPs) via a standardised letter, which also advised the commencement of eradication therapy. Despite this endeavour, a clinical audit conducted in 2011 demonstrated that only 66 per cent of confirmed H. pylori-positive South Auckland patients received eradication treatment and only 83 per cent of these patients received treatment within one month.

Aims: Improve the timely initiation of H. pylori eradication therapy through direct patient notification.

Method: A prospective clinical audit of 109 consecutive outpatients with a positive CLO test identified at gastroscopy. In addition to standard general practitioner notification, patients were also directly notified of their positive CLO test result via a standardised letter, which provided information about H. pylori and its disease associations as well as advising patients to seek consultation with their GP to commence eradication therapy. Dispensing data was examined using Test Safe electronic records to determine the total uptake and timing of treatment compared to data from a preliminary 2011 audit.

Results: Ninety-five per cent of H. pylori-positive patients received standard triple therapy; therefore, treatment of active H. pylori infection was significantly higher when patients were directly notified in addition to standard GP notification, when compared to GP notification alone (95 per cent vs 66 per cent, p<0.001). All patients who received eradication therapy did so within one month of notification, a significant improvement compared to data from the previous audit in 2011 (100 per cent vs. 83 per cent, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Direct patient notification using a standardised letter is a simple and economical strategy that significantly improves the timely initiation of eradication therapy for active H. pylori infection. This has since been integrated into standard practice at our District Health Board (DHB).

Keywords: H. pylori; Helicobacter pylori; patient education; triple therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Time to receiving treatment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chey WD, Wong BC. American College of Gastroenterology guideline on the management of Helicobacter pylori infection. Am J Gastroenterol. 2007;102:1808–25. - PubMed
    1. Hung IF, Wong BC. Assessing the Risks and Benefits of Treating Helicobacter Pylori Infection. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2009;2(3):141–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dixon ME. In: Mobley HLT, Mendz GL, Hazell SL, editors. Washington: D.C:ASM Press; 2001. Pathology of gastritis and peptic ulceration; Helicobacter pylori: physiology and genetics; pp. 459–69.
    1. Huang JQ, Sridhar S, Chen Y, Hunt RH. Meta-analysis of the relationship between Helicobacter pylori seropositivity and gastric cancer. Gastroenterology. 1998;114(6):1169–79. - PubMed
    1. Leodolter A, Kulig M, Brasch H, Meyer-Sabellek W, Willich SN, Malfertheiner P. A meta-analysis comparing eradication, healing and relapse rates in patients with Helicobacter pylori-associated gastric or duodenal ulcer. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2001;15:1947–58. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources