Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Mar;24(1):262-268.
doi: 10.4314/ahs.v24i1.31.

Exploring patient referral practices of traditional healthcare practitioners in Soshanguve, Gauteng Province, South Africa

Affiliations

Exploring patient referral practices of traditional healthcare practitioners in Soshanguve, Gauteng Province, South Africa

Eugene Musiiwa Makhavhu et al. Afr Health Sci. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: It may be necessary for healthcare professionals to refer patients to other professionals and institutions that are able to provide the care needed by patients, depending on the severity each case presents, healthcare requirements, and resources available to offer care. In healthcare generally, patient referral is standard procedure; however, in South Africa, referral patterns between allopathic and traditional healthcare practitioners are unknown, and this is a problem yet to be addressed.

Objectives: The study objective was to explore patient referral practices from the perspectives of traditional healthcare practitioners of South Africa.

Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design was employed to collect data from 11 traditional healthcare practitioners who were sampled using snowball sampling. An individual semi structured interview schedule was used to collect data. Content analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Patient referral was common practice in traditional health practices, however not reciprocal between the traditional and allopathic healthcare. Several indications for patient referral to allopathic healthcare practitioners included management of chronic conditions amongst others.

Discussion: Patient referral being an important part of healthcare practices should be promoted and regulation and traditional health practices improved to promote safe referral practices and curb unsafe self-referrals by patients.

Keywords: allopathic healthcare; patient referral; referral system; traditional healthcare.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship or publication of this article.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Martinussen PE. Referral quality and the cooperation between hospital physicians and general practice: The role of physicians and primary care factors. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 2013;41(8):874–882. doi: 10.1177/1403494813498951. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Forrest CB, Nutting PA, Von Schrader S, Rohde C, Starfield B. Primary care physician specialty referral decision making: Patient, Physician, and Health Care System Determinants. Journal of medical decision making. 2006. Doi.: 10.1177/0272989X05284110. - PubMed
    1. Abrahim O, Linnander E, Mohammed H, Fetene N, Bradley E. A patient-centered understanding of the referral system in Ethiopian Primary Health Care Units. PLoS One. 2015;10(10) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pillay I, Mahomed OH. Prevalence and determinants of self-referrals to a District-Regional Hospital in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa: a cross sectional study. Pan African Medical Journal. 2019. Doi.: 10.11604/pamj.2019.33.4.16963. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Republic of South Africa, author. National Health Insurance Bill. 2019. [Online] Accessed from: https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201908/national-hea....

LinkOut - more resources