Patterns of referral in the Family Medicine Department in Southeastern Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE To assess the referral pattern and identify the appropriateness of the referral letter and consultants feedback. METHODS This cross-sectional study was performed at the Family Medicine Department, Sharurah Armed Forces Hospital (SAFH), Sharurah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study population (sampled population) included all referrals in one month (June 2009). We obtained the appropriateness of the referral letter, consultants' feedback, and patients and physician's characteristics using research tools. The fieldwork was conducted during the period of August to September 2009 and the study was completed in January 2010. RESULTS Overall, the referral rates was 16%. The percentage of referred male patients were 40.5% (n=183) and females were 59.5% (n=269). The variables of the administrative part of the referral letter (such as age, gender of the referred patient) were present and clear (readable) in most of the patients. Also, the scores of different administrative items of the referral letter were higher (> or =95%) than the clinical items (such as history taking and physical examination). Inappropriate consultant feedbacks (53%) were significantly higher than inappropriate primary health care referral letters (12%) ( p=0.008). CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that the quality standard of referral process needs to be improved as the received referrals letters and feedback reports were poor.