title: Diagnostic characteristics of patients referred to a secondary care military medical facility of the Israel Defense Forces.
abstract: A consistently high annual referral rate of over 20% from primary care clinics to secondary (specialist) care clinics in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prompted a study of 2,225 such referrals at the major IDF secondary care facility during 1978. This report details the diagnostic information obtained concerning the 1,329 (59.7%) medical referrals (i.e., excluding technical and administrative referrals). Fewer than one-quarter of the diagnoses from the list developed for the study (68 out of 275) accounted for more than two-thirds (906) of the 1,329 referrals studied. The implications of the impression that many of the diagnoses were simple and straightforward in nature are discussed. Further data concerning the type of investigation for each referral and the follow-up pattern are also presented. For only 351 (26.4%) of the 1,329 cases were any additional laboratory tests or other auxiliary investigations ordered: three procedures alone, simple radiology, electrocardiography, and audiometry, accounted for all such tests in 229 (62.5%) of these 351 cases. Of 979 new medical referrals 602 (73.5%) were discharged after their initial visit without need for follow-up. The possible significance of the diagnostic findings in relation to the referral rates and to the training of IDF medical officers is indicated, and the importance of additional studies, especially at the IDF primary care clinic itself, is stressed.
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008887:Military Medicine; D012017:Referral and Consultation