FU Berlin Digitale Dissertation
Axel Baumgarten : Treatment and referral strategies of general practitioners at patients with rheumatologic diseases Hausärztliche Überweisungs- und Behandlungsstrategien bei Rheumapatienten
|Abstract| |Table of Contents| |More Information|

Abstract Often a General Practitioner (GP) - representing the group of familiy doctors - referred patients diagnosed with rheumatic diseases. The referral figures of other first consulting specialists were distinctly lower. This proves that GPs functioned as distributors. They very clearly differentiated when referring people and adapted their procedures to each patients and his complaints. This was especially proven by the fact that a) patients suffering from infectious or metabolic rheumatic diseases were only referred to internists; b) patients suffering from degenerative deformation of the joints or backpain were only referred to orthopedists or surgeons. Very few medical examinations such as radiologic or laboratory diagnoses already performed were repeated after the referral. This fact indicates that the doctors involved in the treatment were well coordinated. However, the therapeutic care may not have been sufficient as other researchers have already demonstrated. This is proven considering the few prescriptions of physiotherapy and the lack of prescriptve therapy. It is important to mention the use of diagnostic methods for rheumatic diseases, especially radiologic examinations which are conducted far more often than laboratory diagnoses. Moreover, the method of treatment chosen by both groups of doctors - the doctors treating the patient first and those treating him subsequently - is open to criticism. This is rather surprising as a sufficient therapy after a referral would be expected. This study cannot differentiate, however, between the respective degrees of specialisation of different medical fields. Thus, there is no definitive answer to the question whether the internists and orthopedists who participated in this study already brought a certain degree of rheumatologist knowledge with them. Many other preliminary studies have clearly established the fact that in the Federal Republic of Germany neither enough rheumatologist specialists nor orthopedists, who specialised in rheumatology exist.

Table of Contents Download the whole PhDthesis as a zip-tar file or as zip-File For download in PDF format click the chapter title Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 2 Klinische & epidemiologische Datenlage 3 Fragestellung dieser Studie 4 Material und Methode 5 Ergebnisse 6 Diskussion 7 Zusammenfassung 8 LITERATURVERZEICHNIS

More Information:
Online available:	http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/2001/160/indexe.html
Language of PhDThesis:	german
Keywords:	Rheumatologic diseases, general practitioner, referral, treatment, epidemiology
DNB-Sachgruppe:	33 Medizin
Date of disputation:	07-Sep-2001
PhDThesis from:	Fachbereich Humanmedizin, Freie Universität Berlin
First Referee:	Prof. Dr. med. Peter Mitznegg
Second Referee:	Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Braun
Contact (Author):	AxelBaumgarten@t-online.de
Date created:	24-Aug-2001
Date available:	29-Aug-2001

 

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