Article Figures & Data
Figures
Tables
The Article in Brief
Primary Care Clinician Adherence to Specialist Advice in Electronic Consultation
Clare Liddy , and colleagues
Background Electronic consultation (eConsult) services can improve access to specialist advice, however, little is known about whether and how often primary care clinicians adhere to the advice they receive. This study evaluates how primary care clinicians use recommendations conveyed by specialists in an eConsult service and how eConsult affects clinical management of patients in primary care.
What This Study Found In a retrospective chart audit of 291 eConsults, primary care clinicians adhered to specialist advice in 82 percent of cases. Questions asked of specialists most often related to diagnosis (63 percent). Other questions addressed management (27 percent), drug treatment (10 percent), and procedure (1 percent). The eConsult�s results were communicated to patients in 79 percent of cases, most often by face-to-face meeting (38 percent), phone call (32 percent), or through a patient portal (9 percent). Communication occurred in a median of 5 days. The most consulted specialties were dermatology (32 percent), orthopedics (8 percent), and neurology (7 percent).
Implications
- In light of the high primary care clinician adherence to specialist recommendations and primary care clinician-to-patient communication, the authors suggest that eConsult delivers good quality care and improves patient management.