Admission and referral system observance in five educational centers (IUMS)

Abstract Background: Hospital is not an alternative to primary health cares services, and should only admit referral patients. Objective: To determine the admission status respecting the referral system observance in five educational hospitals. Methods: All patients selected by stratified random sampling (N=372) were studied by questionnaires and direct observation at 5 IUMS hospitals in Tehran. Data is presented through descriptive statistics and some intera group analysis. Findings: 79% of the referral were from urban and 21% from rural areas, 81.5% were referred by other physicians, and 18.5% were self-referred. 66% of patients who need to refer had referral forms, and 33.2% did not. The self-referred patients had no priority over physician-referred ones in admission. There was also no feedback to physicians who had referred patients. Conclusion: Referral system is not usually followed in hospital level. There is no priority and no mutually information interchanging between hospital and primary health care centers.