The Journal of the Korean dental association (대한치과의사협회지)

The Korean Dental Association (대한치과의사협회)
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Fidelity analysis of Patient's Referral Letters delivered to the Department of Conservative Dentistry in a Dental University Hospital

치과대학병원 치과보존과로 전달된 진료 의뢰서의 충실도 분석

  • Jeon, Su-Jin (Department of Conservative Dentistry, Wonkwang University Daejeon Dental Hospital) ;
  • Hwang, Soo-Jeong (Department of Dental Hygiene, College of Medical Science, Konyang University) ;
  • Seo, Min-Seock (Department of Conservative Dentistry, Wonkwang University Daejeon Dental Hospital)
  • 전수진 (원광대학교 대전치과병원 치과보존과) ;
  • 황수정 (건양대학교 의과학대학 치위생학과) ;
  • 서민석 (원광대학교 대전치과병원 치과보존과)
  • Received : 2019.04.17
  • Accepted : 2019.06.19
  • Published : 2019.07.31
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Abstract

In cases of a patient referral, the general dentist should communicate the patient's dental information as clearly as possible to the specialist to whom he/she is referring his/her patient. For this reason, it is necessary to write a referral letter in an accurate and complete manner. The purpose of this study is to analyze the referral letters of patients who are referred to the department of conservative dentistry in a dental university hospital. From January, 2017 to December, 2018, we gathered the information of the patients who were referred to the department of conservative dentistry in a dental university hospital with referral letter. We evaluated the fidelity of a total of 750 referral letters and recorded the information of the referral dentist and the dental clinic. The relationship between each item and fidelity was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The analysis of the contents of the referral letters yielded the following results: The fidelity of the referral letter was higher when the patient was referred during the root canal treatment, or when there was a root canal filling or when there was pain during chewing. The fidelity of referral letter was low in cases where the referring clinic is close to and has cooperative relationship with dental university hospital. Among the factors affecting the fidelity, the year of graduation of the referral dentist was the most influential. This study confirmed the fact that the clinical practice of writing patient referral letters still leaves much to be desired. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to create more clear and standardized guidelines for writing referral letters.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 원광대학교

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