Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Letter Case ReportsRemoval of an oesophageal foreign body in the emergency department.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
A retrospective audit of referral letter quality from general practice to an inner-city emergency department.
Our primary aim was to analyse the quality of letters from general practitioners (GPs) to the ED as defined by two checklists: the authors' own nine-item list and a template published in 2013 by the New South Wales Agency for Clinical Innovation. The secondary aim was to determine if referral quality was influenced by letter format (handwritten or computer-generated) or urgency of the patient's condition (defined by triage category). ⋯ Referral quality was influenced by letter format but not by urgency of the patient's condition. Omission of information from referral letters potentially risks patient safety. Handwritten referrals should be abandoned. Comprehensive electronic letter templates and regular updating of medications, comorbidities and allergies are encouraged.