ArticleAnnals of Ibadan postgraduate medicine2025
REFERRAL WAIT TIME AND ILLNESS SEVERITY OF PATIENTS WITH NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES REFERRED TO SPECIALIST CLINICS OF A TERTIARY HEALTHCARE CENTRE IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA.
Article in Annals of Ibadan postgraduate medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
Background: Wait times for healthcare specialists are inevitable due to demand-supply imbalances. However, tailoring wait times to individual patient needs based on illness severity is crucial for equitable care. The relationship between illness severity and referral wait times therefore has significant consequences for patient outcomes and the overall efficiency of the healthcare system. Objective: This study assessed the relationship between illness severity and referral wait times among patients with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) referred to selected specialist clinics in a tertiary healthcare centre in South-West Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 310 adult patients with NCDs referred from the General Outpatient (GOP) clinic of the Department of Family Medicine to the Medical, Surgical and Psychiatry specialty outpatient clinics was conducted. Illness severity was assessed using the Duke Severity of Illness (DUSOI)/WONCA Checklist, and wait times were obtained through followup phone calls. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 28. Results: The median wait time was 27 days, and about half of the patients had intermediate illness severity levels. The relationship between illness severity and wait times was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Referral wait times were not significantly associated with patients' illness severities. This highlights the need for a critical review of referral and triage practices with a multi-pronged approach to improve wait time experiences for patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41404091PMC12704346What 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.