Skip to main content

Table 1 Details On Included Studies

From: Factors influencing general practitioners decisions to refer Paediatric patients to the emergency department: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

Author & Date

Health System

GP Population

Paediatric Population

Sample Size

Type of Work

Sample Size

Age

Gender

Insurance Status

Reason for Seeking Unscheduled Healthcare

Barwise- Munro, Morgan & Turner, 2018

Universal Care

Referring GPs (7), Receiving clinicians (10)

Referring GPs: Family doctors (2), GP’s working in ED (3) & Out of Hours services (3) Receiving Clinicians: All working in the acute medical paediatric unit. Clinicians who are either in their foundation year, specialist trainees or associated specialists.

10 children and their parents

Between 5wks – 10 yrs.

9 mothers, 1 father

n/a

Level of consciousness Acutely unwell Breathing problems Breathing problems Fever and shaking Allergic reaction seizure

Brousseau, D. et al, 2011

Private or Public

20 PCPs

75% were paediatricians, 25% were family practice, general practice and internal medicine.

26 parents of children

< 2: 50%, 2–4: 23%, > 4: 27%

21 female and 5 male parents’; 14 girls

Public: 69% Private: 15% Unknown: 8% None: 8%

Fever with or without vomiting and diarrhoea: 6 (23%) Pain (oral, tympanic): 6 (23%) Breathing problems (wheezing, coughing, etc): 5 (19%) Rash: 2 (8%) Laceration: 2 (8%) Bump on the head: 2 (8%) Nosebleed: 1 (4%) Minor trauma: 1 (4%) Swollen eye: 1 (4%)

Dale, J. et al, 1995

Universal care

6 GPs; 31 ED Physicians

GPs: local General Practitioners; ED Physicians: 27 senior house officers, 3 registrars and 1 Senior registrar

< 16 yrs. n: 913 (19.7%); Overall n = 4641

 

Not reported

n/a

Not reported

Haimi, M. et al, 2018

Treatment at an ED is free on referral from a GP

15 Physicians working in telemedicine

All paediatric specialists, 7 with subspecialty. Professional experience range: 4 -30 yrs. (m: 19 yrs), paediatric telemedicine experience range: 5–9 yrs.

Not reported

Not reported

Not reported

n/a

Not reported

Kini,N.M & Strait, R., 1998

Private or Public

364 PCP’s

Primary Care Physicians

364

Not reported

Not reported

52% enrolled in a health maintenance organisation (HMO) which requires prior approval by PCP for non-urgent visits to the ED

Fever, minor trauma, and respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders

Orimadegun, A.E. et al, 2008

Not reported

974 referral letters written by various healthcare professionals

Letters were written by physicians (69.2%), registered nurses (21.3%), hospital assistants (2.1%), traditional birth attendants (0.4%), and non- health workers (0.3%). The identity of the writers of 65 letters (6.7%) could not be defined

974

1 day - 16 years median age of 43 months

Male: 568; Female: 406

Not reported

Not reported

Rhodes, K. et al, 2012

Private or Public

26 specialists and 14 PCP’s

Specialty physicians Subspecialty type:

Allergy/immunology (2)

Cardiology (1)

Developmental paediatrics (4)

Emergency medicine (1)

Neurology (3)

Ophthalmology (2)

Orthopaedic surgery (3)

Otolaryngology (3)

Paediatric intensive care (1)

Physical medicine/rehabilitation (1)

Psychiatry (3)

Pulmonary diseases (1)

Radiology (1); Primary care physicians: Adolescent medicine (1)

Family medicine (1)

General paediatrics (12)

Not reported

Not reported

Not reported

Publicly insured

Not reported