An audit of the quality of a referral document, designed in accordance with Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, for paediatric exodontia under general anaesthesia

Baker, Robert A.; Anthony, Lowell; Sanders, Hannah-Reeve

doi:10.1111/j.1365-263x.2006.00740.x

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Unlike the medical literature, 4–6 to date there have been few studies in the dental literature that deal with the quality of or attempt to improve the information contained in referral letters to other practitioners 3,7–13 . In those studies, a large number of referral letters were shown to have significant omissions 7,12 and, on average, in only 40% of referral letters was the relevant medical history documented adequately 3,11 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of a pro‐forma has been shown to improve the quality of medical records 14 . One study showed that only 17% of referral letters contained medical history information 13 and although the use of a pro‐forma did increase medical history reporting up to 81%, 13 referring practitioners were more likely to omit other administrative details, such as their own address, when using such devices 11,12 . However, in another study, the use of a pro‐forma was not associated with an increase in quality of medical information 15 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The accuracy of medical history information in referral letters

DeAngelis

Chambers

Hall

2010

Australian Dental Journal

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Background: Accurate medical history information is essential for good patient care and should be notified in the letter of referral. The aim of this study was to investigate the subjective opinion that the medical information in a large number of referrals is either inaccurate or non-existent. Methods: Medical histories from 54 patients with positive medical history findings upon taking the medical history at the initial consultation appointment were compared to the medical information supplied in the referral letter. Results: Overall, medical information was only 58.8% complete with dental referrals being 55.2% complete and medical referrals 62.4%. The majority of referral letters (70.4%) missed at least one relevant finding and only 29.6% of referrals were 100% complete. Conclusions:The results of this study suggest that the standard of referral letters needs to be improved as the received referrals were generally incomplete and contained inaccurate information. This highlights the need for each and every practitioner to take their own detailed medical history and not rely on the information supplied in the referral.

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