Smoothing the passage of patients from primary care to specialist respiratory opinion

O'Byrne, Louise; Darlow, Camilla; Roberts, Nicola; Wilson, Graeme; Partridge, Martyn R.

Abstract

Aims:
To assess whether information in general practitioner (GP) referral letters provides a basis for selection of diagnostic tests in patients referred for specialist respiratory advice.

Methods:
We undertook a prospective study within a respiratory outpatients department to compare the diagnostic tests planned at three stages of the referral/specialist consultation process: i) using the GP referral letter alone; ii) using the referral letter and patient history; iii) using the referral letter, patient history, and clinical examination.

Results:
Analysis of the content of GP referral letters revealed wide variations in referral information. A high proportion of tests selected using the referral letter alone were altered after specialist history-taking and examination. Far fewer changes were recorded between history-taking and examination.

Conclusions:
Neither literature review nor our study support a system which bases diagnostic test selection on GP referral letters alone. However, our findings suggest that approaches which include specialist history-taking in advance of face-to-face consultation merit further investigation.

Citation

O'Byrne, L., Darlow, C., Roberts, N., Wilson, G., & Partridge, M. R. (2010). Smoothing the passage of patients from primary care to specialist respiratory opinion. Primary Care Respiratory Journal, 19(3), 248-253. https://doi.org/10.4104/pcrj.2010.00028

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 23, 2010
• Online Publication Date: May 14, 2010
• Publication Date: 2010-09
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2022
• Journal: Primary Care Respiratory Journal
• Print ISSN: 1471-4418
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-1534
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 248-253
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4104/pcrj.2010.00028
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2899632