Referral (medicine)

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In medicine, referral is the transfer of care for a patient from one clinician or clinic to another by request. [1] [2]

Medicine The science and practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of physical and mental illnesses

Medicine is the science and practice of establishing the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.

A clinician is a health care professional that works as a primary care giver of a patient in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, clinic, or patient's home. A clinician diagnoses and treats patients. For example, physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacist and physician assistants are clinicians; a speech-language pathologist (SLP) is a clinician, a speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA) is not. Clinicians take comprehensive exams to be licensed and some complete graduate degrees in their field of expertise. Although a clinician must follow evidence-based best-practices and other professional codes of conduct set by laws and professional governing bodies, a clinician can choose to practice without another's supervision.

Tertiary care is usually done by referral from primary or secondary medical care personnel.

Primary care day-to-day health care given by a health care provider

Primary care is the day-to-day healthcare given by a health care provider. Typically this provider acts as the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients within a healthcare system, and coordinates other specialist care that the patient may need. Patients commonly receive primary care from professionals such as a primary care physician, a nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant. In some localities, such a professional may be a registered nurse, a pharmacist, a clinical officer, or a Ayurvedic or other traditional medicine professional. Depending on the nature of the health condition, patients may then be referred for secondary or tertiary care.

In the field of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), referral also means the informing of a partner of a patient diagnosed STD of the potential exposure. Patient referral is where patients directly inform their partners of their exposure to infection. An alternative is provider referral, where trained health department personnel locate partners on the basis of the names, descriptions, and addresses provided by the patient to inform the partner. [3]

See also

<i>Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals</i>

The Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals (CPR) is a taxonomy focused on defining and grouping together situations requiring a referral from pharmacists to physicians regarding the pharmacotherapy used by the patients. It has been published in 2008. It is bilingual: English/Spanish.

Family medicine (FM), formerly family practice (FP), is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages; the specialist is named a family physician or family doctor. In Europe the discipline is often referred to as general practice and a practitioner as a general practice doctor or GP; this name emphasises the holistic nature of this speciality, as well as its roots in the family. Family practice is a division of primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body; family physicians are often primary care physicians. It is based on knowledge of the patient in the context of the family and the community, emphasizing disease prevention and health promotion. According to the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), the aim of family medicine is to provide personal, comprehensive, and continuing care for the individual in the context of the family and the community. The issues of values underlying this practice are usually known as primary care ethics.

General practice is the name given in the United Kingdom and Australia to the service provided by General practitioners. In other countries similar services may be described as family medicine or primary care. The term Primary Care in the UK may also include services provided by community pharmacy, optometrist, dental surgery and community hearing care providers. The balance of care between primary care and secondary care - which usually refers to hospital based services - varies from place to place, and with time. In many countries there are initiatives to move services out of hospitals into the community, in the expectation that this will save money and be more convenient.

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Safe sex Ways to reduce the risk of acquiring STDs

Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or devices to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer sex or protected sex to indicate that some safe sex practices do not completely eliminate STI risks. It is also sometimes used to describe methods aimed at preventing pregnancy.

Syphilis Sexually transmitted infection

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents. The primary stage classically presents with a single chancre but there may be multiple sores. In secondary syphilis, a diffuse rash occurs, which frequently involves the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. There may also be sores in the mouth or vagina. In latent syphilis, which can last for years, there are few or no symptoms. In tertiary syphilis, there are gummas, neurological problems, or heart symptoms. Syphilis has been known as "the great imitator" as it may cause symptoms similar to many other diseases.

General practitioner type of medical doctor specialising as a generalist, usually working in primary care setting

In the medical profession, a general practitioner (GP) is a medical doctor who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education to patients.

Health care Prevention of disease and promotion of wellbeing

Health care or healthcare is the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals in allied health fields. Physicians and physician associates are a part of these health professionals. Dentistry, midwifery, nursing, medicine, optometry, audiology, pharmacy, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and other health professions are all part of health care. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as in public health.

Sexual health clinic medical facility focused on preventing and treating sexually transmitted diseases

Sexual health clinics specialize in the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Pharmacotherapy is therapy using pharmaceutical drugs, as distinguished from therapy using surgery, radiation, movement, or other modes. Among physicians, sometimes the term medical therapy refers specifically to pharmacotherapy as opposed to surgical or other therapy; for example, in oncology, medical oncology is thus distinguished from surgical oncology.

Serosorting, also known as "serodiscrimination", is the practice of using HIV status as a decision-making point in choosing sexual behavior. Frequently the term is used to describe the behavior of a person who chooses a sexual partner assumed to be of the same HIV serostatus in order to engage in unprotected sex with them for a reduced risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV/AIDS.

The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is a classification method for primary care encounters. It allows for the classification of the patient’s reason for encounter (RFE), the problems/diagnosis managed, primary or general health care interventions, and the ordering of the data of the primary care session in an episode of care structure. It was developed by the WONCA International Classification Committee (WICC), and was first published in 1987 by Oxford University Press (OUP). A revision and inclusion of criteria and definitions was published in 1998. The second revision was accepted within the World Health Organization's (WHO) Family of International Classifications.

ICPC-2 PLUS is an extended terminology classified to ICPC-2 International Classification of Primary Care, which aids data entry, retrieval and analysis. ICPC-2 PLUS takes into account the frequency distribution of problems seen in primary health care. It allows for the classification of the patient’s reason for encounter (RFE), the problems/diagnosis managed, primary care interventions, and the ordering of the data of the primary care session in an episode of care structure.

The most well-known definition for pharmaceutical care came from Doug Hepler and Linda Strand in their article ‘Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care’ from 1990. This was a landmark paper because it marked the start of the international movement to make pharmaceutical care more visible, and get the term and the type of care implemented in hospital and community pharmacy practice. During the following years both authors worked to make the concept applicable in practice. The definition reads: ‘Pharmaceutical care is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve the patients’ quality of life’.

Gonorrhea sexually transmitted infection

Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with urination, discharge from the penis, or testicular pain. Infected women may experience burning with urination, vaginal discharge, vaginal bleeding between periods, or pelvic pain. Complications in women include pelvic inflammatory disease and in men include inflammation of the epididymis. Many of those infected, however, have no symptoms. If untreated, gonorrhea can spread to joints or heart valves.

Sexually transmitted infection Infection transmitted through human sexual behavior

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), are infections that are commonly spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex and oral sex. Many times STIs initially do not cause symptoms. This results in a greater risk of passing the disease on to others. Symptoms and signs of disease may include vaginal discharge, penile discharge, ulcers on or around the genitals, and pelvic pain. STIs can be transmitted to an infant before or during childbirth and may result in poor outcomes for the baby. Some STIs may cause problems with the ability to get pregnant.

Patient-delivered (partner) therapy, is the practice of treating the sex partners of people diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea by providing prescriptions or medications to the person to take to their partner without the health care provider first examining the partner.

Epidemiology of syphilis Epidemiology of syphillis

Syphilis is a bacterial infection caused by sexual contact and is believed to have infected 12 million people in 1999 with greater than 90% of cases in the developing world. It affects between 700,000 and 1.6 million pregnancies a year, resulting in spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and congenital syphilis. In Sub-Saharan Africa syphilis contributes to approximately 20% of perinatal deaths.

Partner notification is the practice of notifying the sexual partners of a person, known as the "index case", who has been newly diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection that they may have been exposed to the infection. It is a kind of contact tracing and is considered a partner service.

Infectious diseases within American correctional settings are a concern within the public health sector. The corrections population is susceptible to infectious diseases through, exposure to blood and other bodily fluids, drug injection, poor health care, prison overcrowding, demographics, security issues, lack of community support for rehabilitation programs, and high-risk behaviors. The spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B (HBV), and tuberculosis result largely from needle-sharing, drug use, and consensual and nonconsensual sex among prisoners. HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C need specific attention because of the specific public health concerns and issues they raise.

References

  1. ↑ García Olmos L, Gervas Camacho J, Otero A, Pérez Fernández M. La demanda derivada: un estudio de la relación entre médico generales y especialistas. Rev San Hig Púb. 1994; 68(2):267-78.
  2. ↑ Albasri, Ali; Prinjha, Suman; McManus, Richard J.; Sheppard, James P. (2018-08-01). "Hypertension referrals from community pharmacy to general practice: multivariate logistic regression analysis of 131 419 patients". Br J Gen Pract. 68 (673): e541–e550. doi:10.3399/bjgp18X697925. ISSN   0960-1643. PMC   6058643  Lock-green.svg. PMID   29970396.
  3. ↑ Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines, 2006 CDC. August 4, 2006 / 55(RR11);1-94
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