Audit of Referrals to an Ophthalmic Outpatient Clinic of a Tertiary Eye Care Centre in a Developing Country

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the referral pattern and assess the quality and accuracy of referral letters to the ophthalmic outpatient clinic of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.Methods: This study is a prospective cross-sectional survey of all new ophthalmic referrals to the ophthalmic outpatient clinic at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu between 1st July 2006 and 31st December 2006. Patients’ referral letters and clinical case notesprovided information on demography, referral source, referral diagnosis, definitive diagnosis and quality of referral letter. The number of ophthalmic outpatient consultations during the study period was obtained fromclinic records. Data were analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences to generate frequency and percentage distributions. The chi-square test was used for inter-group comparison at p< 0.05.Results: There were 461 new ophthalmic referrals comprising 217 (47.1%) males and 244 (52.9%) females. The rate of referrals based on gender was not significant (p=0.3044). The age range was 3-67 years (mean=18.5 years, SD=0.6). More adults (> 16 years) than children (< 16 years) were referred (p