From training for issuing referrals to specialists, adult personal physicians of the General Health System (GHS) are undergoing seminars during this period, responding to the call of the Health Insurance Organization (HIO) and participating in the relevant seminars organized for this purpose.As explained to philenews by the director of the GHS, Efi Kamitsi, “since last year, the organization had proceeded with the preparation of clinical referral guidelines concerning 21 health conditions/diagnoses. The referral guidelines include specific indications for when a personal physician refers to a specialist and when not.”“The clinical referral guidelines,” she explained, “serve as a support tool for adult personal physicians for implementing proper clinical practice rules and aim to create a common reference point for adult personal physicians regarding the issuance of referrals to specialist doctors.”In simple terms, they provide guidance to personal physicians on when to refer, which symptoms and indications should lead them to make a referral, and so forth.Meanwhile, Kamitsi said, “we have also proceeded with categorizing referrals into ‘urgent’ and ‘routine’ (as part of the effort to reduce waiting lists) and therefore, we are now conducting training for personal physicians on both when to refer a patient to a specialist and when a case is considered urgent and an urgent referral is issued and when not. We must of course mention that the clinical referral guidelines that have been implemented also include when a case is considered urgent and requires immediate management.”The educational seminars, Kamitsi said, have started since yesterday and will continue until June. They are conducted online and include 5 thematic units offered on two different dates per unit. Each lecture lasts for 1.5 hours.For their participation in these seminars, physicians also receive accreditation, which is subsequently counted (within the framework of the corresponding quality criterion applied) and contributes to their compensation.Parallel to the process of training adult personal physicians, GHS, “in collaboration with the scientific societies of specialist doctors, is trying to prepare clinical referral guidelines for other health conditions/diagnoses as well as to enrich the guidelines that have already been prepared with more indications, if deemed necessary by our physicians.”In conclusion, she emphasized that the referral guidelines currently being implemented were prepared in collaboration with personal physicians and the assistance of other experts.referral guidelines. clinical referral guidelines, adult personal physicians, training
