RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Primary Care Clinician Adherence to Specialist Advice in Electronic Consultation
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 150
OP 157
DO 10.1370/afm.2355
VO 17
IS 2
A1 de Man, Gwen
A1 Moroz, Isabella
A1 Mercer, Jay
A1 Keely, Erin
A1 Liddy, Clare
YR 2019
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/17/2/150.abstract
AB PURPOSE Electronic consultation (eConsult) services can improve access to specialist advice. Little is known, however, about whether and how often primary care clinicians adhere to the advice they receive. We evaluated how primary care clinicians use recommendations conveyed by specialists via the Champlain BASE (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service and how eConsult affects clinical management of patients in primary care.METHODS This is a descriptive analysis based on a retrospective chart audit of 291 eConsults done between January 20, 2017 and August 31, 2017 at the Bruyère Family Health Team, located in Ottawa, Canada. Patients’ charts were reviewed until 6 months after specialist response for the following main outcomes: implementation of specialist advice by primary care clinicians, communication of the results to the patients, method, and time frame of communication.RESULTS Primary care clinicians adhered to specialist advice in 82% of cases. Adherence ranged from 62% to 93% across recommendation categories. Questions asked by primary care clinicians related to diagnosis (63%), management (27%), drug treatment (10%), and procedures (1%). Recommendations of the eConsult were communicated to patients in 79% of cases, most often by face-to-face visit (38%), telephone call (32%), or use of the patient portal (9%). Communication occurred in a median of 5 days.CONCLUSIONS We found little evidence of barriers to implementing specialist advice with use of eConsult, which suggests recommendations given through service were actionable. With a high primary care clinician adherence to specialist recommendations and primary care clinician–to-patient communication, we conclude that eConsult delivers good-quality care and improves patient management.