[Referral behaviour of general practitioners to professionals in outpatient care and in addiction treatment sites in Mecklenburg-West Pommerania].
OBJECTIVE
This study gives an overview about the collaboration of general practitioners (GP) with professionals in outpatient care and in addiction treatment sites. The goal of the study is to examine whether characteristics of the GP and distances to various specialised professionals have an effect on the referral of patients to GPs, primarily in the pilot study of nine "Medical practices for addiction".


METHODS
A random sample of 330 general practices was drawn from the records of the association of the Compulsory Health Insurance. The participation rate was 75.8%.


RESULTS
There was a high level of networking between general practitioners (GP) and professionals in outpatient care and in addiction treatment sites. The greater the distance to a "Medical practice for addiction", the lower was the chance of referral. There was no influence of distance concerning referral and other specialised outpatient professionals.


CONCLUSIONS
Only part of the general population benefits from the pilot study. Aspects such as accessibility and well proven habits of the GPs concerning referral, should be considered to a greater extent for future collaboration among addiction care systems.
Ulbricht
S
S
Institut für Epidemiologie und Sozialmedizin der Ernst- Moritz- Arndt Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. ulbricht@uni-greifswald.de
Coder
B
B
Röske
K
K
Meyer
C
C
Rumpf
H J
HJ
Hapke
U
U
John
U
U
D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*