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BackgroundThe referral letter is an important document facilitating the transfer of care from a general practitioner (GP) to secondary care. Hospital doctors have often criticised the quality and content of referral letters, and the effectiveness of improvement efforts remains uncertain.MethodsA cluster randomised trial was conducted using referral templates for patients in four diagnostic groups: dyspepsia, suspected colorectal cancer, chest pain and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The GP surgery was the unit of randomisation. Of the 14 surgeries served by the University Hospital of North Norway Harstad, seven were randomised to the intervention group. Intervention GPs used referral templates soliciting core clinical information when initiating a new referral in one of the four clinical areas. Intermittent surgery visits by study personnel were also carried out. A total of 500 patients were included, with 281 in the intervention and 219 in the control arm. Referral quality scoring was performed by three blinded raters. Data were analysed using multi-level regression modelling. All analyses were conducted on intention-to-treat basis.ResultsIn the final multilevel model, referrals in the intervention group scored 18 % higher (95 % CI (11 %, 25 %), p < 0.001) on the referral quality score than the control group. The model also showed that board certified GPs and GPs in larger surgeries produced referrals of significantly higher quality.ConclusionIn this study, the dissemination of referral templates coupled with intermittent surgery visits produced higher quality referrals.Trial registrationThis trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial registration number is NCT01470963.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1017-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Se examinan las tendencias de rehabilitación basada en la comunidad (CBR) y el modelo de rehabilitación psicosocial denominado Clubhouse (CH) como instrumentos de políticas de reforma de la Salud Mental (MH). El trabajo se basa en documentación del proyecto transnacional “Empoderamiento de adultos con enfermedad mental para aprendizaje e inclusión social en 2010-2012” además de otras fuentes. La colección de datos y subsecuentes análisis se prepararon en el contexto de cerca de 30 recomendaciones internacionales de políticas de salud mental desde los años 90 hasta el 2012. Los documentos fueron analizados y comparados con diferentes enfoques orientados a la recuperación, tales como el modelo CH, y con conceptos clave de la ciencia de Rehabilitación, vinculados con tendencias recientes de la rehabilitación psicosocial. Algunas de las más importantes recomendaciones intergubernamentales de políticas de salud mental son las Guías conjuntas de Trabajo de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y UNESCO y varias asociaciones internacionales tales como la Asociación Mundial de Rehabilitación Psiquiátrica (WAPR) y el Marco Piramidal de la OMS para la óptima combinación de servicios de Salud Mental, complementados con el Plan Integral de Acción en Salud Mental 2013-2020 aprobado por la OMS este año. Todas estas fuentes incluyen el espectro total de trastornos mentales. Factores de combinación son los derechos humanos, basados en una comprensión más holística de las discapacidades en lugar de un enfoque meramente médico. Todas estas recomendaciones están orientadas a su utilización a nivel global.

BackgroundThe referral letter plays a key role both in the communication between primary and secondary care, and in the quality of the health care process. Many studies have attempted to evaluate and improve the quality of these referral letters, but few have assessed the impact of their quality on the health care delivered to each patient.MethodsA cluster randomized trial, with the general practitioner office as the unit of randomization, has been designed to evaluate the effect of a referral intervention on the quality of health care delivered. Referral templates have been developed covering four diagnostic groups: dyspepsia, suspected colonic malignancy, chest pain, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Of the 14 general practitioner offices primarily served by University Hospital of North Norway Harstad, seven were randomized to the intervention group. The primary outcome is a collated quality indicator score developed for each diagnostic group. Secondary outcomes include: quality of the referral, health process outcome such as waiting times, and adequacy of prioritization. In addition, information on patient satisfaction will be collected using self-report questionnaires. Outcome data will be collected on the individual level and analyzed by random effects linear regression.DiscussionPoor communication between primary and secondary care can lead to inappropriate investigations and erroneous prioritization. This study’s primary hypothesis is that the use of a referral template in this communication will lead to a measurable increase in the quality of health care delivered.Trial registrationThis trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial registration number is NCT01470963