Article Text
Articles
General practitioners and district nurses
A study of referral patterns in the City of Aberdeen
Abstract
Variation between Aberdeen general practitioners in referral rates for home and surgery nursing care is shown to be substantial and is related to the proportion of elderly patients in the practice, inversely to list size, to the doctor's experience, and to practice attachment of nurses. There is, however, a large unexplained variation which, it is suggested, reflects differing general practitioner perception of nursing need and nursing skill, a situation that could be improved by joint training.