ArticleCanadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie
Access to orthopedic specialist service in Ontario via eConsult.
Article in Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Family Physician-to-Hospital Specialist Electronic Consultation and Access to Hospital Care: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Examination of Plastic Surgery Clinical Questions and Responses via an Electronic Consultation (eConsult) Service.Plastic surgery (Oakville, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Ontario Primary Care Practitioners and Access to Ophthalmologists Through Electronic Consultation.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Article
- Successful Electronic Consultation Service Initiative in Quebec, Canada With Primary Care Physicians' and Specialists' Experiences on Acceptance and Use of Technological Innovation: Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreasing strain on public health resources in Canada, in particular with respect to accessing specialist care, necessitates the exploration of alternative models of care. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of electronic consultation (eConsult) in providing orthopedic surgery specialist service to patients in the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) of Ontario.
methodsThis was a cross-sectional review of all 564 Champlain LHIN orthopedic surgery referral requests received via the Champlain Building Access to Specialist service through the eConsult (BASE) system in 2017. Primary outcome measures were impact on primary care provider (PCP) referral pattern and time to receive orthopedic consultation.
resultseConsult prevented unnecessary in-person consultation 64% of the time, while PCP referral decisions were modified 51% of the time. Of all eConsults, 94% were rated as valuable to PCPs in their practice and 97% of eConsults resulted in actionable advice. eConsults took an average of 14.5 minutes of specialist time to complete, and the mean time from referral to response was 3.7 days.
conclusionThe eConsult system spares unnecessary consultation to orthopedic surgery; catches important referrals that would have otherwise been missed; saves time for patients, PCPs and orthopedic surgeons; and improves efficiency in a socialized health care system.
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.