Referral patterns in a global store-and-forward telemedicine system.
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Date
2005-12-26
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Abstract
We examined the nature of the referral patterns in the email telemedicine network operated by the Swinfen Charitable Trust with a view to informing long term resource planning Over the first six years of operation 62 hospitals from 19 countries registered with the Trust in order to be able to refer cases for specialist advice 55 of these hospitals 89 actually referred cases during this period During the first six years of operation nearly 1 000 referrals were submitted and answered from a wide range of specialty areas Between July 2002 and March 2005 the referral rate rose from 127 to 318 cases per year The median length of time required to provide a specialist s response was 2 3 days during the first 12 months and 1 8 days during the last 12 months Five hospitals submitted cases for more than four years together sending a total of 493 cases Their activity data showed a trend to declining referral rates over the four year period which may represent successful knowledge transfer There is some evidence that over the last three years the growth in demand has been exponential while the growth in resources available i e specialists has been linear a situation which cannot continue for very long before demand outstrips supply