BACKGROUND Databases derived from primary care electronic health records (EHRs) are ideally suited to study clinical influences on referral patterns. This is the first study outside the United Kingdom to use an EHR database to describe rates of referral per patient from family physicians to specialists. OBJECTIVE To use a primary care EHR database to describe referrals to specialist physicia...

INTRODUCTION Primary health care is widely accepted as the first point of care; yet, individuals requiring healthcare engage in self-referrals to higher levels of care thereby by-passing primary care. Little is known of the extent to which self-referrals are carried out when care is needed. This study thus sought to determine the prevalence of self-referral, its patterns and factors influencing...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the prevalence of different primary reasons for endodontic referrals and the clinical symptoms of the referred cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS Clinical data of total endodontic treatment cases (1,014 teeth) including endodontic referral cases (224 teeth) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012, at Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, were investigated retrospectively. ...

OBJECTIVE To study the patterns of referral to a paediatric specialist out-patient clinic. DESIGN Descriptive study. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS The 1985 referral letters of patients who were referred to the paediatric specialist clinic during 1998 were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Common referral diagnoses according to sources of referral. RESULTS The common sour...

PURPOSE Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is widely underutilized because of multiple factors including physician referral practices. Previous research has shown CR referral varies by type of provider, with cardiologists more likely to refer than primary care physicians. The objective of this study was to compare factors affecting CR referral in primary care physicians versus cardiac specialists. M...

OBJECTIVE To identify the hospital admission data set that best captures the incidence of acute poisoning in rural Sri Lanka. METHODS Data were collected on all acute poisoning cases admitted to 34 primary and 1 referral hospital in Anuradhapura district from September 2008 to January 2010. Three admission data sets were compared with the "true" incidence of acute poisoning to determine the s...

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to examine whether general practitioner (GP) practice locations in remote and rural areas affected the pattern of direct access echocardiography referral and to assess any variations in echocardiographic findings. METHODS All referrals made by all GP practices in the Scottish Highlands over a 36-month period were analysed. Referral patterns were examined accordin...

Hospital, London. Criteria for referral to this clinic include: otitis externa (needing microsuction), recurrent epistaxis, fractured nose (needs to be seen within 7–10 days of injury), foreign bodies in the ear, sudden unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, and Bell’s palsy. We collected prospective data on 100 consecutive primary care referrals in April–May 2013. The patients’ mean age was 41...

BACKGROUND Depression is a common illness, often treated in primary care. Guidelines provide recommendations for referral to mental health care. Several studies investigated determinants of referral, none investigated guideline criteria as possible determinants.We wanted to evaluate general practitioner's referral of depressed patients to mental health care and to what extent this is in agreeme...

OBJECTIVE This study seeks to model proposed causal relationships between the quality of psychiatric referral letters, and its indicators, linked to the features of the referred patient, referring physician, and practice setting. METHODS This study was executed at Buraidah Mental Health Hospital, Saudi Arabia, in the year 2000-2002. Data regarding 18 independent variables underlying 3 latent ...