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The referral process
Author(s) -
Carson Neil E.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1982.tb132250.x
Subject(s) - referral , medicine , patient referral , family medicine
Nineteen general practitioners recorded details of all referrals they made to specialists over a period of two weeks. The referrals represented 5.2% of the total number of consultations and about one‐third of them were repeats. Only 7.8% of these referrals were for the purpose of arriving at a diagnosis. Requests for back‐dating of referrals remains a significant problem. Results suggested certain ways in which the referral rate might be reduced in the future with a consequent reduction in costs.