Table 2.
Qualitative analysis of outpatient referral processes from the emergency department.
| Consulting service | Patient to contact clinic | Dedicated referral form | Centralized intake | Rapid ED appointments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ophthalmology | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Orthopedic surgery | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Thrombosis | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stroke/TIA clinic | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Gastroenterology | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Infectious diseases | ✗ | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | ✗ |
| Internal medicine | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Plastic surgery | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cardiology | ✓/✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| General surgery | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Urology | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Dermatology | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Gynecology | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Neurology | ✗ | ✗ | ✓/✗ | ✗ |
| Otorhinolaryngology | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Clinics are presented from top to bottom in ascending order of proportion of patients lost to follow-up. Combinations of tick marks and x's indicate that there are two internal outpatient clinics, one for each campus, which have different processes for booking consultations.