Reasons for referral from general practice in Finland

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Abstract
Objective - To examine the reasons for referral from general practice in Finland. Design - Survey over one week of all referrals from general practice. Setting - Central and northern Finland, comprising 72% of the area of the country and one-third of the population. Participants - 851 general practitioners (GPs) from public health centres. Outcome measures - Referrals by speciality and reasons for referrals by ICD-9 and ICPC codes in terms of characteristics of patients, GPs, and practices. Results - A higher proportion of male (39%) than female (33%) patients were referred to surgical speciality (pConclusion - Our results will be useful in developing the training of GPs with respect to those health problems that most commonly lead to a referral to hospital.