Referral and counter-referral system between secondary and tertiary care facilities in a childrens hospital network of Greater Buenos Aires. / Referral and counter-referral system between secondary and tertiary care facilities in a childrens hospital network of Greater Buenos Aires.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Hospital El Cruce is a tertiary care facility which is part of a healthcare network that has been operating since July 2008 and includes health centers from five municipalities of the South of Greater Buenos Aires. The objective of the study was to describe the referral and counter-referral system at the pediatric intermediate medical care unit of the Hospital El Cruce, the tertiary level care of the network, and secondly to identify the critical points that could go against the consolidation of the network and to analyze the level of knowledge about it. POPULATION AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, prospective study conducted at the pediatric intermediate medical care unit of Hospital El Cruce between July 2008 and December 2010. Indicators related to patient admission and discharge were analyzed. A survey was administered to all the heads of the networks pediatric departments in order to assess the level of knowledge they had about it. RESULTS: A total of1677patients were hospitalized; 83.9