2024/02/13 by Osahon Enabulele, Enabulele, Osahon
Business, Management and Accounting · Health Professions · #Factors #Family Physician #General Practice Clinic #Healthcare Systems and Technology #Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare #Primary Care and Health Outcomes #Referral Decision-Making #UBTH
paper · doi:10.60787/nmj-62-5-54
openalex publication_date 2024/02/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
Background: Family physicians offer first contact, comprehensive and coordinated care to patients, and refer those in need of further specialist care to specialists in other clinical departments. This referral decision-making is dependent on certain factors which can lead to variations in the pattern of referrals with impact on the coping capacity of a health facility. This study sought to assess the factors influencing referral decision-makingof family physicians in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectionalstudy of Family physicians in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. It utilized a semi-structured, pre-tested self-administered questionnaire to obtain information on respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and factors that influenced respondents' referral decision. IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) statistical software was utilized for data analysis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The most reported factors that influenced the clinical decision of respondents to refer patients were the need for definitive treatment or surgery, 35(94.6%) and the need for a specific investigation,26 (70.3%). The least stated factors were: to save cost, patient's gender, patient's attitude and poor adherence to treatment plan, with equal proportions of 2.7% respectively. Conclusion: The most reported factors that influenced the clinical decision of respondents to refer patients were the need for definitive treatment or surgery, and the need for a specific investigation. Work status and the length of practice in Family medicine were also found to play a role in the clinical decision of respondents to refer a patient.