General practitioner ENT referral audit

• Published in: Irish journal of medical science Vol. 184; no. 1; pp. 143 - 146
• Main Authors: Oosthuizen, J. C., McShane, D., Kinsella, J., Conlon, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01-03-2015
• Subjects: Adult; Child; Family Medicine; Female; General Practice; General Practice - statistics & numerical data; Guideline Adherence - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Internal Medicine; Ireland; Male; Medical Audit; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Otolaryngology - statistics & numerical data; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data; Ireland; Otolaryngology; ENT; Standardised; Out patient; General practitioner; Referral
• ISSN: 0021-1265; 1863-4362
• DOI: 10.1007/s11845-014-1075-6

Background
During 2009, there were 3.3 million outpatient attendances at outpatient clinics across Ireland. Up to 20 % of these are directed towards ENT services.
Aims
To determine the compliance rate of general practitioners with the ICGP referral guidelines.
Methods
One-hundred referrals received were compared to the ICGP standardised form and graded accordingly. Each referral letter was graded to a maximum of 37 points.
Results
The average score recorded for referrals was 16/37. The referrer detail section scored the highest with a mean of 75.42 % (paediatric referrals) and 72.9 % (adult referrals). The clinical information provided demonstrated compliance rates of 34 % (paediatrics) and 35 % (adults). In total, only 32 letters made any reference to findings on examination. Both paediatric and adult referrals scored an average of 42 % when patients’ details are considered.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates poor compliance rates with the introduced ICGP standardised referral form, which has implications for the accurate grading of referral letters received.