Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to assess the views of general dental practitioners (GDPs) on the content, style, and readability of written reports provided by restorative consultants at a dental hospital in response to referral letters from the GDPs. The secondary objective was to determine the style of the written consultant report preferred by GDPs.
Setting: Referral letters received and replied to by four consultants in the restorative department at Birmingham Dental Hospital.
Method: The quality of written reports sent by the four consultants to 100 referring GDPs in the West Midlands area was evaluated using a postal questionnaire, which assessed 100 GDPs' satisfaction with the content, style, and readability of the reports. To assess which format they favoured a second questionnaire was subsequently sent to the same GDPs with three versions of the original report in: (a) a standard format, (b) a summary format, and (c) a bullet point format.
Results: The results of the initial questionnaire revealed that 79 (96%) of practitioners were satisfied with the existing style of the reports. Following a second questionnaire in which GDPs were asked to choose which format they preferred, 61 (81%) expressed a preference for a bullet point or summary style report.
Conclusion: 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.