The choice of alternatives to acute hospitalization: a descriptive study from Hallingdal, Norway.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hallingdal is a rural region in southern Norway. General practitioners (GPs) refer acutely somatically ill patients to any of three levels of care: municipal nursing homes, the regional community hospital or the local general hospital. The objective of this paper is to describe the patterns of referrals to the three different somatic emergency service levels in Hallingdal and to elucidate possible explanations for the differences in referrals.

Methods

Quantitative methods were used to analyse local patient statistics and qualitative methods including focus group interviews were used to explore differences in referral rates between GPs. The acute somatic admissions from the six municipalities of Hallingdal were analysed for the two-year period 2010-11 (n = 1777). A

SUBMITTER: Lappegard O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3698089 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature