[Compliance with the new model referral forms from primary care to hospital emergency services].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the compliance with the new model forms for referral to hospital emergency services and possible differences between urban and rural health centres, and among general practitioners and family & community medicine specialists.

DESIGN

An observational, crossover study.

SETTING

Health Area 1 in the province of Badajoz.

PARTICIPANTS

800 new model forms for referral, equivalent to the same number of patients, sent to the casualty department of the referral hospital.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

76.7% of the referrals came from the rural environment, and the other 23.3% from urban health centres. Gathering anamnesis and symptoms is the only criterion which exceeds 90% of the recording in both rural and urban settings, and among general practitioners and family medicine specialists. Only 23.9% of referrals (23.8% in rural health centres and 22.7% in urban ones) met the four criteria which were considered indispensable for a minimum level of compliance. These percentages were 23.2% and 31.7% when broken down for general practitioners and family medicine specialists (no significant differences).

CONCLUSIONS

There was a low level of compliance with the new model form for referral: there were no statistically significant differences in compliance between rural and urban health centres, nor between general practitioners and family & community medicine specialists.