Yes / Aims: Levels of false positive referral to ophthalmology departments can be high. This study
aimed to evaluate commonality between false positive referrals in order to find the factors
which may influence referral accuracy.
Methods: In 2007/08, a sample of 431 new Ophthalmology referrals from the catchment area
of Bradford Royal Infirmary were retrospectively analysed.
Results: The proportion of false positive referrals generated by optometrists decreases with
experience at a rate of 6.2% per year since registration (p < 0.0001). Community services which
involved further investigation done by the optometrist before directly referring to the hospital
were 2.7 times less likely to refer false positively than other referral formats (p = 0.007).
Male optometrists were about half as likely to generate a false positive referral than females
(OR = 0.51, p = 0.008) and as multiple/corporate practices in the Bradford area employ less
experienced and more female staff, independent practices generate about half the number of
false positive referrals (OR = 0.52, p = 0.005).
Conclusions: Clinician experience has the greatest effect on referral accuracy although there is
also a significant effect of gender with women tending to refer more false positives. This may be
due to a different approach to patient care and possibly a greater sensitivity to litigation. The
improved accuracy of community services (which often refer directly after further investigation)
supports further growth of these schemes. / This study was funded by the University of Bradford.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/8722 |
| Date | 21 November 2015 |
| Creators | Davey, Christopher J., Scally, Andy J., Green, Clare, Mitchell, E.S., Elliott, David B. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, published version paper |
| Rights | © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espa˜na, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
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