[An analysis of the referrals of primary care physicians to a hospital hypertension unit].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the referral of hypertense patients from primary care to a hospital arterial hypertension unit, the quality of the information sent and the profile of the referred patients.


METHODS
A descriptive crossover study.


METHODS
The Hospital Clínico of San Carlos in Madrid.


METHODS
A simple random sample of 368 clinical records belonging to patients attended at the unit over the last 3 years.


RESULTS
54.6% of patients were referred from primary care. 48.9% of the interclinical (IC) notes were high-quality, with 28.7% acceptable. 36.8% of referrals were considered incorrect, 30.3% because of false unresponsiveness to treatment. Good or acceptable IC notes were associated with 94.1% of correct referrals and only 65.4% of incorrect referrals.


CONCLUSIONS
A high proportion of referrals which were incorrect by the consensus criteria were detected and were caused by inadequate or insufficient medical treatment. There was a statistically significant relationship found between correct referrals and the quality of information sent in the IC note.
Galgo Nafría
A
A
Centro de Salud Las Aguilas, Madrid.
Martell Claros
N
N
García Ruiz
F J
FJ
Abad Paniagua
E
E
López Eady
M
M
Fernández Pinilla
C
C
Luque Otero
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011897:Random Allocation; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents