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

O’Byrne, L., Darlow, C., Roberts, N., Wilson, G. and Partridge, M. R. (2010) Smoothing the passage of patients from primary care to and from a specialist respiratory opinion. Primary Care Respiratory Journal, 19, pp. 248-253.

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.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Roberts, Dr Nicola
• Authors: O’Byrne, L., Darlow, C., Roberts, N., Wilson, G., and Partridge, M. R.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Centre for Population and Health Sciences
• Journal Name: Primary Care Respiratory Journal
• ISSN: 1471-4418
• ISSN (Online): 1475-1534
• Published Online: 01 January 2010