Effects of Comorbidity and Clustering upon Referrals in Primary Care
| Autor: | Thomas E. Norris, George E. Fryer, Frederick M. Chen |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Washington Research design medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Referral Specialty Patient characteristics Comorbidity Primary care Ambulatory Care medicine Humans Cluster analysis Referral and Consultation Aged Primary Health Care business.industry Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Middle Aged medicine.disease Cross-Sectional Studies Family medicine Emergency medicine Medicine Female Family Practice business Specialization |
| Zdroj: | The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 18:449-452 |
| ISSN: | 1558-7118 1557-2625 |
| DOI: | 10.3122/jabfm.18.6.449 |
| Popis: | Objective: To examine the effect of patient characteristics and comorbidity on referrals in primary care. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of patient encounters and referrals during a 1-year period for a primary care network of 9 clinics. The analysis adjusted for the clustering effect of physicians and clinics on the data. Results: 23,720 specialty referrals were generated from 251,240 patient encounters, resulting in a total referral rate of 9.4 referrals per 100 encounters. Age, gender, and certain comorbid conditions were significant predictors of referral for any given encounter. Conclusions: Patient characteristics and comorbidity are predictors of referral. Studies of primary care processes need to account for clustering of physicians and clinics in their research design. (J Am Board Fam Pract 2005;18:449‐52.) |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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