OBJECTIVE To identify characteristics of early arthritis units, that may be associated with better referral eficiency. METHODS A national survey of the 36 early arthritis units (EAU) in Spanish Rheumatology Units in 2004 (SERAP project). Survey collected information about general practitioners (GP) educational program to improve knowledge and practical skills of early arthritis, networking an...

This paper presents a multi-objective and multi-service location-allocation model with capacity planning to design a healthcare facilities network through considering a referral system. Therefore, a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model containing two objective functions is proposed. The first objective function is  relates to minimization of total opening cost, minimization of tota...

Oral anticoaguIants are extremely common, and it is estimated that there are between 500,000 and 1 million people prescribed them in the UK.[1] These drugs are the most frequently named medication in fatal errors and litigation claims [2] and they require the implementation of additional safety controls.[3] Warfarin is the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant and it requires regular internati...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The primary providers of health services are general dental practitioners (GDPs), who must routinely do the diagnosis and treatment planning except in complicated cases. The present study evaluation of a referral system to endodontists among a group of GDPs in Iran. METHODS: This descriptive study was performed on 620 Iranian general dentists. A questionnaire with an accepte...

Objective: describing the characteristics of the articulation between the services that compose the mental health network of children and adolescents, through the referral and counter-referral system. Method: descriptive study developed in 25 services, based on information obtained from self-administered questionnaires applied to coordinators through the Ministry of Health electronic system. Da...

BACKGROUND In Japan, all citizens are covered by the national insurance system in which universal free access to healthcare services is promised to everybody. There are no general physicians or gatekeepers in the Japanese healthcare system. METHODS We studied the pattern of referral of inpatients from secondary care hospitals to a tertiary care university hospital and the reverse referral und...

OBJECTIVE Referrals to specialists have not been compulsory in Iceland since 1984. In 2006, referrals were again required for patients to receive reimbursement for part of the cost of appointments with cardiologists. The aim of this study was to explore GPs' attitudes to the referral system and possible professional gain by interactive communications. DESIGN Cross-sectional questionnaire surv...

BACKGROUND Although screening for tobacco use is increasing with electronic health records and standard protocols, other tobacco-control activities, such as referral of patients to cessation resources, is quite low. In the QUIT-PRIMO study, an online referral portal will allow providers to enter smokers' email addresses into the system. Upon returning home, the smokers will receive automated em...

BACKGROUND The inequity in emergency obstetric care access in Tanzania is unsatisfactory. Despite an existing national obstetric referral system, many birthing women bypass referring facilities and go directly to higher-level care centres. We wanted to compare Caesarean section (CS) rates among women formally referred to a tertiary care centre versus self-referred women, and to assess the effec...

BACKGROUND Individuals diagnosed with HIV in developing countries are not always successfully linked to onward treatment services, resulting in missed opportunities for timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy, or prophylaxis for opportunistic infections. In collaboration with local stakeholders, we designed and assessed a referral system to link persons diagnosed at a voluntary counselling ...