Abstract
Background
Cork University Hospital acts as the tertiary referral centre for the HSE southern area, with a catchment population of 1.2 million [1]. The neurology registrars receive telephone consultations from hospitals and primary care practices in the region. While there have been a number of studies examining inpatient neurology consultations in Irish hospitals [2–6], there is a paucity of data examining the support provided by tertiary referral centres to other acute hospitals and primary care centres in their region.
Aims
The aim of this study is to define the workload of the neurology registrar with respect to telephone consultations and to examine the quality of these referrals.
Methods
All calls received from the 19th of October 2021 to the 25th of February 2022 were logged by the receiving registrar. Information collected pertained to the nature of the consult and completeness of the referral.
Results
The average volume of calls during the study period was six per week. The median call duration was 8 min. The cumulative time spent resolving outside calls during the study period was at least 41.25 hours. Sixty-three per cent of calls were from other acute hospitals in the region. Thirty-nine per cent of referrals were deemed incomplete with respect to either history, collateral history or examination.
Conclusions
This is a necessary service in a system that is not adequately resourced to provide specialist led care in all hospitals. A greater emphasis on complete and accurate referrals, along with robust communication and documentation, could reduce the inherent risk associated with such consultations.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was conducted by Sarah Fullam, Maeve Bradley, Siobhan Delaney and Emma Troy. Material preparation and analysis was performed by Sarah Fullam. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Sarah Fullam and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Fullam, S., Bradley, M., Delaney, S. et al. Lost in translation: Telephone referrals to a tertiary neurology referral centre. Ir J Med Sci 192, 1569–1572 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-022-03194-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-022-03194-5