SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2014
Referral interventions from primary to specialist care: a systematic review of international evidence.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Decision Support Systems for Healthcare Referral Strategies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Imaging versus no imaging for low back pain: a systematic review, measuring costs, healthcare utilization and absence from work.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2019Pooled it
- Feasibility of decentralised, task-shifted hepatitis C testing and treatment services in urban Myanmar: implications for scale-up.BMJ open · 2022Trial
- Article
- Considerations in referring older patients to hospital in acute situations: a qualitative study based on the experiences of healthcare providers.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Additional Investigations and Referrals by Primary Care Physicians in Uncertain Clinical Situations: Cross-Sectional Study Using Virtual Patient-Based Scenarios.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Performance of Retrieval-Augmented Generation Large Language Models in Guideline-Concordant Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing: Comparative Study With Junior Clinicians.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Centralized Surgical Care Improves Survival in Non-Functional Well-Differentiated Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors.Cancers · 2025Article
- Factors Influencing Physicians' Referral Decision-Making for Rehabilitation Outpatient Services in the Health Care Landscape of China: Cross-Sectional Study.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Evaluating referrals between rural district hospitals and a regional hospital in South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- From eligibility to diagnosis: candidacy and the complex journey of cerebral palsy diagnosis within primary care.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Quantitative evaluation of two-way referral policies based on PMC index model.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Initiatives to enhance referral patterns from primary care to specialist kidney care:a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- 'ThinkCancer!': randomised feasibility trial of a novel practice-based early cancer diagnosis intervention.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Article
- Does virtual consultation between primary and specialised care improve healthcare quality? A scoping review of healthcare quality domains assessment.BMJ open quality · 2023Article
- Demand management processes to improve access to cognitive-behavioral therapies for anxiety disorders: a grounded theory study.Frontiers in health services · 2023Article
- Factors influencing the implementation of severe acute malnutrition guidelines within the healthcare referral systems of rural subdistricts in North West Province, South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Organization of primary care.Primary health care research & development · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDemand management defines any method used to monitor, direct, or regulate patient referrals. Strategies have been developed to manage the referral of patients to secondary care, with interventions that target primary care, specialist services, or infrastructure.
aimTo review the international evidence on interventions to manage referral from primary to specialist care. DESIGN AND
settingSystematic review.
methodIterative, systematic searches of published and unpublished sources public health, health management, management, and grey literature databases from health care and other industries were undertaken to identify recent, relevant studies. A narrative synthesis of the data was completed to structure the evidence into groups of similar interventions.
resultsThe searches generated 8327 unique results, of which 140 studies were included. Interventions were grouped into four intervention categories: GP education (n = 50); process change (n = 49); system change (n = 38); and patient-focused (n = 3). It is clear that there is no 'magic bullet' to managing demand for secondary care services: although some groups of interventions may have greater potential for development, given the existing evidence that they can be effective in specific contexts.
conclusionsTo tackle demand management of primary care services, the focus cannot be on primary care alone; a whole-systems approach is needed because the introduction of interventions in primary care is often just the starting point of the referral process. In addition, more research is needed to develop and evaluate interventions that acknowledge the role of the patient in the referral decision.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.