title: Prospective evaluation of internal hospital requests for consultation of an Otolaryngology department.
abstract: This was a prospective study and analysis of the clinical nature and severity of consultation, patient age and sex, place of consultation, grade of attending doctor and management strategy of in-patients referred for a specialist opinion to a Department of Otolaryngology. Internal requests for consultation were evaluated at the North Manchester General Hospital between October 1999 and August 2000 (n = 101). Patients referred to the Otolaryngology department were of a varied clinical nature with head and neck complaints being the largest group. Forty-six of the patients had minor complaints. Patients were found to be predominantly male and older than 50 years of age. The grade of attending doctor was predominantly a Specialist Registrar and the management strategy was most frequently conservative. Many of the requests for consultation were regarding minor problems that could be referred to a routine out-patient clinic. There is a need to improve the indication criteria for internal consultation, as well as the information provided in them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Casso
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rapado
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zarod
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006748:Hospital Departments; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008875:Middle Aged; D009668:Nose Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D010038:Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index