Of these 16 items, 8 items (17, 19, 26, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34) pertained to general aspects of the course (for example free time for academic qualification, patient-orientation, family-friendliness), while the other 8 (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 16, 23, 31) focused more on intra-/interindividual aspects.
Demographic data collected at the time of recording included patient age, sex, ethnicity, educational qualification (by patient self-report), and whether or not the patient was known to the GP.
After qualification all patients were ventilated using the SensorMedics 3100B oscillator.
Qualification of patients for extubation was at the discretion of individual investigators, based upon their clinical judgement.
After a 3-month qualification phase, patients were randomly allocated to one of two groups, which differed only in the sequence of the two therapies.
The question arises of whether elastography can deliver additional information about the irradiated salivary gland and whether this method could therefore help in better qualification of patients for subsequent intensive postradiation treatment.
In contact with the patient, the fact of introducing oneself and indicating one's qualification (the patient does not have the same questions for a nurse-aid as for the doctor), introducing a junior doctor, when present, and briefly explaining the procedure, contributes to the development of a relationship of confidence [ 1, 12].
Increased number and/or professional qualification of patient care staff is one possible explanation; this was not the case.
1 Owing to increased demands for quality assessment, qualification of patient treatment and cost benefit analysis, the need for an accurate outcome prediction score has increased.
Table 1 displays the breakdown in levels of confidence by gender, age, prior experience and prior qualification for patient communication (PC).
