ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2020
How long are Canadians waiting to access specialty care? Retrospective study from a primary care perspective.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient and provider perspective with the use of a central intake system (CIS) for surgical waitlist management: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Decision Support Systems for Healthcare Referral Strategies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Teledermatology in Atopic Dermatitis: A Systematic Review.Journal of cutaneous medicine and surgeryPooled it
- Article
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- Examination of Plastic Surgery Clinical Questions and Responses via an Electronic Consultation (eConsult) Service.Plastic surgery (Oakville, Ont.) · 2026Article
- In-hospital Wait Times for Emergency General Surgery: Do Immigrants Wait Longer?Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Emergency Department Visits, Hospital Admissions, and Wait Times for Patients With Urologic Conditions.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Reducing wait times for hospital-based outpatient mental healthcare: what works?BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- Addressing the overuse-underuse paradox in healthcare.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Article
- The Value of the Nurse Navigator in Complex Cancer Care: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Increased access to pediatric specialist healthcare using eConsult: A retrospective observational cohort and case-control study.Paediatrics & child health · 2025Article
- When the decision to die interferes with the duty to heal.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Specialists Triaging Referrals to eConsult: a feasibility study including acceptability and impact of providing advice on primary health care providers.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Addressing Healthcare Waiting Time Challenges in Canada: Insights From Emerging Initiatives.International journal of health policy and management · 2025Article
- Understanding the barriers and facilitators of healthcare services for brain injury and concurrent mental health and substance use issues: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Regional Variability in Survival for Patients Diagnosed with Selected Central Nervous System Tumours in Canada.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Article
- "We're sinking": a qualitative interview-based study on stakeholder perceptions of structural and process limitations to the Canadian healthcare system.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- Geographic Differences in Availability and Access to Care Services for Asthma and COPD: Case Study of Vancouver Coastal Health, British Columbia.Canadian respiratory journal · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 15 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo calculate patient wait times for specialist care using data from primary care clinics across Canada.
designRetrospective chart audit.
settingPrimary care clinics.
participantsA total of 22 primary care clinics across 7 provinces and 1 territory.
main outcome measuresWait time 1, defined as the period between a patient's referral by a family physician to a specialist and the visit with said specialist.
resultsOverall, 2060 referrals initiated between January 2014 and December 2016 were included in the analysis. The median national wait time 1 was 78 days (interquartile range [IQR] of 34 to 175 days). The shortest waits were observed in Saskatchewan (51 days; IQR = 23 to 101 days) and British Columbia (59 days; IQR = 29 to 131 days), whereas the longest were in New Brunswick (105 days; IQR = 43 to 242 days) and Quebec (104 days; IQR = 36 to 239 days). Median wait time 1 varied substantially among different specialty groups, with the longest wait time for plastic surgery (159 days; IQR = 59 to 365 days) and the shortest for infectious diseases (14 days; IQR = 6 to 271 days).
conclusionThis is the first national examination of wait time 1 from the primary care perspective. It provides a picture of patient access to specialists across provinces and specialty groups. This research provides decision makers with important context for developing programs and policies aimed at addressing the largely ignored stage of the wait time continuum from the time of referral to eventual appointment time with the specialist.
Indexed as
Identifiers
32532727PMC7292524W3035400774What 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.