ArticleBMC family practice2013
The consultants' role in the referring process with general practitioners: partners or adjudicators? a qualitative study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Electronic checklists improve referral letters in gastroenterology: a randomized vignette survey.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Considerations in referring older patients to hospital in acute situations: a qualitative study based on the experiences of healthcare providers.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Hospital triage of general practice referrals: exploring the role of triage in rejected referrals.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Challenges and opportunities for expediting ALS diagnosis in Alberta, Canada: a human-centred design approach.BMJ open · 2025Article
- A scenario-driven simulation approach to sustainable hospital resource management: aging society, pandemic preparedness and referral enhancement.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Lack of sex bias in the referral letters for patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a mixed methods evaluation.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Defining the role of sport and exercise physicians: the experience of different referrer types in New Zealand.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Doctors' experiences regarding patient referral to tertiary care in Pretoria, South Africa.Journal of the colleges of medicine of South Africa · 2024Article
- Article
- CPP or Not, That Is the Question: Physicians' Work With Activating CPPs.Qualitative health research · 2021Article
- Stroke follow-up in primary care: a discourse study on the discharge summary as a tool for knowledge transfer and collaboration.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Article
- General practitioners referring patients to specialists in tertiary healthcare: a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- Evaluation of the referral management systems (RMS) used by GP practices in Northumberland: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Observational
- Typologies in GPs' referral practice.BMC family practice · 2016Observational
- Could it be colorectal cancer? General practitioners' use of the faecal occult blood test and decision making--a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2015Article
- Factors explaining priority setting at community mental health centres: a quantitative analysis of referral assessments.BMC health services research · 2014Article
- Time from Symptom Debut to Dementia Assessment by the Specialist Healthcare Service in Norway.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extraArticle
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWithin the health system, communication between the different levels of care is essential for the patients' clinical pathways and medical treatment. This includes the referral process: how and why patients are sent from the primary care level to specialist health services. We wanted to identify and describe hospital consultants' reflections on and attitudes to the referral process and cooperation with general practitioners (GPs).
methodsA qualitative study of semi-structured interviews with 13 hospital consultants representing eight different specialties, analyzed using systematic text condensation. Interviews conducted from February 2011 to October 2012.
resultsThe consultants reported a considerable workload assessing referrals from GPs and prioritizing patients for specialist services. National guidelines were used as well as individual standards and guidelines. Good referrals could make the prioritization process easier. The specialists expressed a deep concern about securing a fair priority of patients and a willingness to give reasonable advice back to the referring GP when rejecting a referral. Better communication, such as a telephone call to confer with a hospital specialist before referral, was wanted.
conclusionsBetter communication and cooperation between hospital consultants and GPs could make the referral process more balanced, and the participants more like partners.
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