Coordination of CARE
What is the coordination of CARE?
The South African healthcare system follows a strict hierarchical system concerning referrals. A referral system exists between primary healthcare clinics (PHC), community healthcare facilities and tertiary hospitals, referring existing patients to specialists in different fields of medicine. As a result, patients can receive continuous care at general and tertiary hospitals with specialists diagnosing and treating their conditions.
The objective of a referral is to gather more information about a diagnosis or treatment that requires further investigation from another medical expert, such as a gastroenterologist who treats abdominal pain and change in bowel habits and addresses the suspicion of colon polyps.
Usually, GPs order a referral when they need to be sure how to treat a condition and continuously care for the patient.
What types of referrals are there?
Doctor/patient referrals are common because patients trust their physician or attending doctor. Problems concerning existing referrals involve inefficiency because over 40 per cent of faxed referrals are not followed through or, at times, are unnecessary. However, referrals close the gap between uncertainty and panic, especially when a diagnosis is inconclusive.
Patient to patient referrals are uncommon but do occur when one patient talks to a friend or family about a doctor in a certain field, which is where they get the idea of who to go to with a health problem.
Why do we refer patients?
By referring our patients to another medical provider specialising in a particular field, we can ensure they receive the utmost care they need. Referrals are ideal and assist by smoothing out medical care a patient receives; in other words, there are no gaps concerning treatment.
Earning a patient's trust is, first of all, a challenging task, but when you do, you have a great deal of responsibility to live up to. A referral can help a patient save time when looking for a specialist in the medical field. Instead of using Google to look for a doctor working in a specific field of medicine (neurosurgeon, rheumatologist, physiotherapist, oncologist, dermatologist etc.), the patient can be directly referred by their physician to someone they trust.
