Abstract:

Objective To investigate the knowledge of dual referral in hospital employees and patients as well as referral willingness in patients in Songjiang District of Shanghai. Methods Four hundred hospital employees and 400 outpatients or inpatients in 21 public hospitals of Songjiang District of Shanghai (1 first-class hospital, 6 secondclass hospitals, and 14 third-class hospitals) were enrolled for dual referral questionnaires, and the investigation included knowledge of dual referral, channel to know dual referral and referral willingness. Three hundred and ninetytwo questionnaires were recovered from hospital employees, and 360 from patients. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and Pearson correlation analysis were employed to compare the the knowledge of dual referral and channel to know dual referral between hospital employees and patients, and analyse the referral willingness of patients. Results The knowledge of dual referral was 95.9% for hospital employees and 70.3% for patients. Most hospital employees (92.0%) and patients (64.8%) got to know dual referral through hospital propaganda, and their channels to get to know dual referral were highly related (r2=0.975, P<0.05). Investigation on referral willingness revealed that 85.3% patients accepted dual referral, while 9.7% did not, and 31.4% of those who did not accept dual referral were due to the concern of high medical cost. Conclusion Both hospital employees and patients have good knowledge of dual referral, and dual referral may be promoted by propaganda enhancement and procedure optimization.

Key words: dual referral, knowledge, referral willingness