Copying general practitioner referral letters to patients: a study of patients' views.

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Cliona Ni Brolchain
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioner ◽  
Referral Letters

Medical Clinic Referral Letters Do They Say What They Mean? Do They Mean What They Say?

1992 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 179-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A.H. Hodge ◽  
A. Jacob ◽  
M.J. Ford ◽  
J.F. Munro
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioner ◽  
Referral Letter ◽  
Medical Clinic ◽  
Medical Clinics ◽  
Resultant Data ◽  
Referral Letters

Consecutive general practitioner referrals to three general medical clinics were examined prospectively to assess whether the reason for referral was being correctly interpreted by consultants. The resultant data revealed that although this was not always the case, such misunderstandings did not appear to affect subsequent management. Explicit reasons for referral in the referral letter however could improve both the quality and value of out-patient consultations.

An assessment of the potential effect of a teledermatology system

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 74-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Taylor
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioner ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Digital Images ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Patient History ◽  
Outpatient Appointment ◽  
Telemedicine System ◽  
Outpatient Appointments ◽  
Referral Letters

The potential effect of a commercial teledermatology system was assessed. The system allowed general practitioners to send dermatologists a set of digital images, accompanied by a short patient history. Patients were seen, in the normal way, by consultant dermatologists. The system was then used to capture a set of images. These were viewed by two dermatologists, 13 months later. Reasonably high levels of agreement were found between the dermatologist seeing the patient and the dermatologist using the telemedicine system (77%). The two dermatologists were also asked to indicate whether, had the system been in use, the patient would have been seen urgently or routinely, or whether the general practitioner would have been advised that an outpatient appointment was not required. The results showed that fewer patients would have been called for urgent appointments (32% compared with 64%) and that 31% of cases could have been managed by the general practitioner. Assuming that the introduction of the system would have had no effect on the overall number of referrals, nor on the number of follow-up appointments, these figures suggest that the total number of appointments could be cut by 13%. It took approximately an hour to view 20 cases and it would be necessary to devote one consultant session a week to viewing images. This system would therefore not lead to significant savings, nor reduce the waiting list for outpatient appointments. The idea would have potential if the review of images could be made as easy as the triage of referral letters.

scholarly journals Quality of General Practitioner Referral Letters for Acute Medical Admissions

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. P42-P42
Author(s):  
A-L Cunnington ◽  
G. Mead ◽  
S Faulkner ◽  
K Russell ◽  
M. Ford
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioner ◽  
Referral Letters

Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Service

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 375-382
Author(s):  
Remco F. P. de Winter ◽  
Mirjam C. Hazewinkel ◽  
Roland van de Sande ◽  
Derek P. de Beurs ◽  
Marieke H. de Groot
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioner ◽  
General Hospital ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Emergency Service ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Psychiatric Emergency ◽  
Psychiatric Emergency Services ◽  
Psychiatric Emergency Service ◽  
Suicidal Patients

Abstract. Background: Outreach psychiatric emergency services play an important role in all stages of a suicidal crisis; however, empirical assessment data are scarce. This study describes characteristics of patients assessed by these services and involved in suicidal crises. Method: During a 5-year period, detailed information from psychiatric emergency service assessments was recorded; 14,705 assessments were included. Characteristics of patients with/without suicidal behavior and with/without suicide attempts were compared. Outcomes were adjusted for clustering of features within individual patients. Results: Suicidal behavior was assessed in 32.2% of patients, of whom 9.2% attempted suicide. Suicidal behavior was most commonly associated with depression or adjustment disorder and these patients were referred to the service by a general practitioner or a general hospital, whereas those who attempted suicide were less likely to be referred by a general practitioner. Those who attempted suicide were more likely to be female and have had a referral by a general hospital. Self-poisoning by medication was the most common method of attempting suicide. Limitations: Bias could be due to missed or incomplete assessments. Primary diagnoses were based on clinical observation at the time of the assessment or on the primary diagnosis previously recorded. In addition, suicidal behavior or attempted suicide might have been underestimated. Conclusions: Suicidal behavior is commonplace in assessments by psychiatric emergency services. Suicidal patients with/without a suicide attempt differed with respect to demographic features, primary diagnoses, and referring entities, but not with respect to treatment policy. About 40% of the suicidal patients with/without an attempt were admitted following assessment.

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