Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37643858›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2023

Improving primary care referral to specialist services: a protocol for a 10-year global systematic review in the Australian context.

Siyaguna Kosgamage Dilum Manthinda Ekanayake, Aletha E Ward, Diane Heart, Patricia Valery, Jeffrey Soar

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Siyaguna Kosgamage Dilum Manthinda EkanayakeSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Southern Queensland, Darling Heights, Queensland, Australia dilum.ekanayake@uqconnect.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0002-5005-9858
Aletha E WardFaculty of Health, Sciences and Engineering, University of Southern Queensland - Ipswich Campus, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4549-0704
Diane HeartFaculty of Health, Sciences and Engineering, University of Southern Queensland - Ipswich Campus, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3782-7530
Patricia ValeryPopulation Health, Cancer and Chronic Disease Group QIMR-Berghofer Medical Research Institute, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, Queensland, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8823-3006
Jeffrey SoarSchool of Business, University of Southern Queensland, Darling Heights, Queensland, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionBarriers to accessing specialist services impart a significant burden on patient outcomes and experience as well as a cost and administrative burden on health systems due to healthcare wastage and inefficiencies. This paper outlines the planned protocol for a systematic review relating to how health systems perform with regard to patient access to specialist care, and the efficacy of interventions aimed at improving this. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Systematic review of the literature will be carried out on publications retrieved by searching the following electronic literature databases: EBSCOhost Megafile Ultimate (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Academic Search Ultimate, APA Psychological Abstracts (PsycINFO), HealthSource), PubMed (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE)), Elsevier Bibliographic Database (Scopus), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Web of Science and The Cochrane Library. Articles published over a 10-year period (2012-2022) will be analysed to determine; current accessibility and availability problems faced by primary care services when referring patients to specialist care, and the effectiveness of interventions to improve primary care access to specialist services. Grey literature publications (ie, government reports, policy statements and issues papers, conference proceedings) will not be analysed in this review. Articles not published in English, Spanish or Portuguese will not be included. Two independent reviewers will conduct the initial screening, disagreements will be resolved by a third independent reviewer, following which data extraction and selection of eligible sources will be carried out. Selected articles will be categorised on study design, setting and participants. Methodological quality and heterogeneity will subsequently be assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. A descriptive approach will be used to review and synthesise the findings. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study does not require ethics committee review as it solely focuses on analysing published literature. Findings will be published and disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022354890.

Indexed as

Dissent and DisputesPrimary Health CareAustraliaDatabases, BibliographicDatabases, FactualHumansSystematic Reviews as Topicepidemiologyprimary carepublic healthsystematic review

Identifiers

PMID37643858
PMCPMC10465904

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.