[Referrals from primary care to pneumology: influence of attendance patterns and specialisation].
OBJECTIVE
To study the number and quality of the referrals from primary care to pneumology. To analyse their relationship to specialist medical training and the attendance pattern.


METHODS
A descriptive, retrospective study.


METHODS
A Pneumology Clinic at the Peripheral Specialities Centre at Cartuja (Granada).


METHODS
597 referrals were gathered. These were for all the patients referred from primary care to this clinic from may to december 1992.


RESULTS
The overall population referral rate per 100,000 inhabitants and month of study was 39.73. The out-clinic doctors referred twice as many patients as health centre (HC) doctors, with OR = 2.01 (1.70 < OR < 2.36). Taken together, general physicians referred three times more than family doctors, with OR = 3.04 (2.54 < OR < 3.78). Regarding the quality of the referral documents, HC doctors accompanied a referral with sufficient information eleven times more often than out-clinic doctors, with OR = 11.38 (6.13 < OR < 21.47). Family doctors contributed this "correct" information thirteen times more often than general physicians without specialist training: OR = 13.50 (8.06 < OR < 22.67).


CONCLUSIONS
The number and quality of referrals appear to be closely related to the attendance pattern and in particular to the specialist training of health professionals.
López Alcázar
M
M
Centro de Salud La Chana, Granada.
González Vargas
F
F
Cassini Gómez de Cádiz
L
L
Espejo Guerrero
A
A
Solís Jiménez
J M
JM
Gómez Pozo
B
B
D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D015272:Pulmonary Medicine; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain
Derivaciones desde atención primaria a neumología: influencia del modelo asistencial y especialización.