Table 3. Patients’ behaviour for seeking healthcare (N = 488).
| Estimated Percentages | Intervention vs Control group | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome variables | Control group | Intervention group | Odds ratio (95% CI) | p-value |
| Contacts before surgery | ||||
| To the assigned cancer contact nurse number of visits i | ||||
| • 0 | 30.4 | 5.5 | -- | |
| • 1 | 39.6 | 56.0 | 8.8 (5.0–15.3) | <0.001 |
| • ≥2 | 30.0 | 38.5 | 8.0 (4.5–14.3) | <0.001 |
| - number of phone calls ii | ||||
| 0 | 56.0 | 44.1 | -- | |
| 1 | 23.6 | 34.2 | 1.9 (1.3–2.8) | 0.006 |
| 2 | 10.8 | 14.4 | 2.2 (1.3–3.7) | 0.018 |
| ≥3 | 9.6 | 7.2 | 1.3 (0.7–2.6) | 0.514 |
| Contacts after discharge | ||||
| To the assigned cancer contact nurse - number of phone calls iii |
||||
| • 0 | 51.6 | 28.6 | -- | |
| • 1 | 26.2 | 41.9 | 2.8 (1.9–4.1) | <0.001 |
| • 2 | 14.9 | 13.7 | 1.7 (1.0–2.8) | 0.074 |
| • ≥3 | 7.6 | 15.8 | 5.1 (2.6–9.9) | <0.001 |
| To the outpatient surgery departmentnumber of visits without the assigned cancer contact nurse iv | ||||
| • 0 | 4.6 | 28.8 | -- | |
| • 1 | 72.6 | 42.0 | 14.1 (7.6–22.3) | <0.001 |
| • 2 | 16.2 | 13.6 | 17.8 (8.3–38.1) | <0.001 |
| • ≥3 | 7.4 | 15.7 | 9.1 (3.9–21.1) | <0.001 |
| - number of visits within 6 weeks after discharge v | ||||
| • 0 | 7.0 | 3.0 | -- | |
| • 1 | 89.0 | 92.4 | 3.1 (1.4–7.0) | 0.022 |
| • ≥2 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.0 (1.4–11.8) | 0.034 |
| Nurse on duty at the surgical ward - number of phone calls vi |
||||
| • 0 | 63.7 | 78.2 | -- | |
| • 1 | 18.4 | 19.2 | 1.7 (1.0–2.9) | 0.066 |
| • ≥2 | 18.0 | 2.6 | 15.4 (6.1–38.6) | <0.001 |
| Emergency department- number of visits vii | ||||
| • 0 | 79.2 | 94.1 | -- | |
| • 1 | 15.0 | 3.8 | 6.7 (3.0–14.7) | <0.001 |
| • ≥2 | 5.9 | 2.1 | 5.7 (1.9–17.1) | 0.010 |
Notes. Percentages are estimated using multiple imputation. Odds ratios and p-values are based on multinomial logistic regression analysis controlling for age, sex, ostomy, presence of reoperations, adjuvant therapy, hospital, type of cancer, ASA class, type of surgery and readmissions.
i Not controlling for hospital, due to sparse cell sizes.
ii Range control group 0–4, intervention group 0–6 phone calls.
iii Range control group 0–9, intervention group 0–22 phone calls.
iv Range control group 0–26, intervention group 0–22 visits.
v Range control and intervention groups 0–11 visits.
vi Range control and intervention groups 0–11 phone calls.
vii Range control group 0–4, intervention group 0–5 visits.
iv, vi, vii Odds ratios are inversed to facilitate interpretation.