SynthesisBMC health services research2011
Performance measures of the specialty referral process: a systematic review of the literature.
Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Decision Support Systems for Healthcare Referral Strategies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Quality indicators for the referral process from primary to specialised mental health care: an explorative study in accordance with the RAND appropriateness method.BMC health services research · 2017Pooled it
- The effect of referral templates on out-patient quality of care in a hospital setting: a cluster randomized controlled trial.BMC health services research · 2017Trial
- Article
- Evaluating referrals between rural district hospitals and a regional hospital in South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Healthcare preferences of chronic disease patients under China's hierarchical medical system: an empirical study of Tianjin's reform practice.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Retrospective analysis of 1,203 cases of referral to a quaternary vascular surgery outpatient clinic within the Unified Health System, São Paulo, Brazil.Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2024Article
- Referral Patterns in Oral Medicine: A Retrospective Analysis of an Oral Medicine University Center in Southern Italy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Getting to the Heart of the Matter: A Triage Model to Improve Utilization of Cardiology Consultative Services.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes · 2019Article
- Health professionals' referral practice and related healthcare utilization for people with low back pain in Singapore: A retrospective study.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liao · 2019Article
- A categorisation of problems and solutions to improve patient referrals from primary to specialty care.BMC health services research · 2018Review
- Family Perspectives on Telemedicine for Pediatric Subspecialty Care.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2017Article
- Variation in Specialty Outpatient Care Patterns in the Medicare Population.Journal of general internal medicine · 2016Article
- Family Perspectives on High-Quality Pediatric Subspecialty Referrals.Academic pediatrics · 2016Article
- Measuring Comprehensiveness of Primary Care: Challenges and Opportunities.Journal of general internal medicine · 2015Review
- Optimizing Telehealth Strategies for Subspecialty Care: Recommendations from Rural Pediatricians.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPerformance of specialty referrals is coming under scrutiny, but a lack of identifiable measures impedes measurement efforts. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature to identify published measures that assess specialty referrals.
methodsWe performed a systematic review of the literature for measures of specialty referral. Searches were made of MEDLINE and HealthSTAR databases, references of eligible papers, and citations provided by content experts. Measures were eligible if they were published from January 1973 to June 2009, reported on validity and/or reliability of the measure, and were applicable to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development healthcare systems. We classified measures according to a conceptual framework, which underwent content validation with an expert panel.
resultsWe identified 2,964 potentially eligible papers. After abstract and full-text review, we selected 214 papers containing 244 measures. Most measures were applied in adults (57%), assessed structural elements of the referral process (60%), and collected data via survey (62%). Measures were classified into non-mutually exclusive domains: need for specialty care (N = 14), referral initiation (N = 73), entry into specialty care (N = 53), coordination (N = 60), referral type (N = 3), clinical tasks (N = 19), resource use (N = 13), quality (N = 57), and outcomes (N = 9).
conclusionsPublished measures are available to assess the specialty referral process, although some domains are limited. Because many of these measures have been not been extensively validated in general populations, assess limited aspects of the referral process, and require new data collection, their applicability and preference in assessment of the specialty referral process is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.