English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Objectives: To determine the referral pattern and assess the quality and accuracy of referral letters to the ophthalmic outpatient clinic of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. Methods: This study is a prospective cross-sectional survey of all new ophthalmic referrals to the ophthalmic outpatient clinic at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu between 1st July 2006 and 31st December 2006. Patients’ referral letters and clinical case notes provided information on demography, referral source, referral diagnosis, definitive diagnosis and quality of referral letter. The number of ophthalmic outpatient consultations during the study period was obtained from clinic records. Data were analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences to generate frequency and percentage distributions. The chi-square test was used for inter-group comparison at p Results: There were 461 new ophthalmic referrals comprising 217 (47.1%) males and 244 (52.9%) females. The rate of referrals based on gender was not significant (p=0.3044). The age range was 3-67 years (mean=18.5 years, SD=0.6). More adults (> 16 years) than children ( satisfied the provision of clinical information criteria, 2.8% satisfied the formulation of specific request criteria, while 1.9% satisfied both. Ophthalmologist-initiated referrals were most accurate (78.6%), while referrals from paediatricians were the least accurate (13.9%). The majority of patients 256 (55.7%) were referred by GPs while ophthalmologists referred the minority-14 (3.0%). Conclusions: The majority of the referral letters were of poor quality, low accuracy, and inappropriate. To reverse this trend, local educational interventions which incorporate clinical correspondence into undergraduate medical training curriculum, and the organization of workshops on clinical information exchange for GPs, specialists and paramedical personnel are recommended. Key words : audit, referrals, ophthalmic outpatient, Enugu, Nigeria

Audit of Referrals to an Ophthalmic Outpatient Clinic of a Tertiary Eye Care Centre in a Developing Country