JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Primary care outcomes in patients treated by nurse practitioners or physicians: a randomized trial.
Studies have suggested that the quality of primary care delivered by nurse practitioners is equal to that of physicians. However, these studies did not measure nurse practitioner practices that had the same degree of independence as the comparison physician practices, nor did previous studies provide direct comparison of outcomes for patients with nurse practitioner or physician providers. ⋯ In an ambulatory care situation in which patients were randomly assigned to either nurse practitioners or physicians, and where nurse practitioners had the same authority, responsibilities, productivity and administrative requirements, and patient population as primary care physicians, patients' outcomes were comparable.
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Comparative Study
HPV DNA testing of self-collected vaginal samples compared with cytologic screening to detect cervical cancer.
More than half of the women diagnosed as having cervical cancer in the United States have not been screened within the last 3 years, despite many having had contact with the health care system. In many other regions of the world, there is only limited access to cervical cancer screening. ⋯ These results indicate that HPV testing of self-collected vaginal swabs is less specific than but as sensitive as Papanicolaou smears for detecting high-grade cervical disease in women aged 35 years and older, and HPV testing offers an important new way to increase screening in settings where cytology is not readily performed.