Association between referral to additional PCH assessment or to external services and the PCH approach (triage vs usual care)
| Triage approach n=974 | Usual approach n=923 | OR* | 95% CI | p Value | ||
| Referral after pre-assessment by PCH assistant | Referral after receiving a follow-up assessment from a PCH physician or nurse | Referral after assessment by PCH physician or nurse | ||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||||
| All referrals | ||||||
| Children referred to follow-up assessment | 444 (45.6) | – | – | – | – | |
| Children referred to additional PCH assessment and/or external services | – | 176 (18.1)† | 177 (19.2) | 0.9 | 0.7 to 1.1 | 0.42 |
| Additional PCH assessment | – | 152 (15.6) | 116 (12.6) | 1.3 | 1.0 to 1.6 | 0.09 |
| External services | – | 35 (3.6) | 73 (7.9) | 0.4 | 0.3 to 0.7 | <0.01 |
| Indication for referral: weight problem | ||||||
| Children referred to follow-up assessment | 150 (15.4) | – | – | – | – | |
| Children referred to additional PCH assessment and/or external services | – | 44 (4.5) | 48 (5.2) | 0.8 | 0.5 to 1.3 | 0.36 |
| Additional PCH assessment | – | 43 (4.4) | 38 (4.1) | 1.0 | 0.7 to 1.6 | 0.89 |
| External services | – | 3 (0.3) | 13 (1.4) | 0.2 | 0.1 to 0.7 | 0.01 |
| Indication for referral: visual disorder | ||||||
| Children referred to follow-up assessment | 47 (4.8) | – | – | – | – | |
| Children referred to additional PCH assessment and/or external services | – | 16 (1.6) | 22 (2.4) | 0.7 | 0.3 to 1.3 | 0.25 |
| Additional PCH assessment | – | 10 (1.0) | 10 (1.1) | 1.0 | 0.4 to 2.4 | 0.94 |
| External services | – | 8 (0.8) | 14 (1.5) | 0.5 | 0.2 to 1.3 | 0.15 |
| Indication for referral: psychosocial problem | ||||||
| Children referred to follow-up assessment | 152 (15.6) | – | – | – | – | |
| Children referred to additional PCH assessment and/or external services | – | 48 (4.9) | 57 (6.2) | 0.8 | 0.5 to 1.1 | 0.17 |
| Additional PCH assessment | – | 38 (3.9) | 36 (3.9) | 0.9 | 0.6 to 1.5 | 0.82 |
| External services | – | 12 (1.2) | 23 (2.5) | 0.5 | 0.2 to 1.0 | 0.05 |
*Logistic regression analyses with referral by PCH as the outcome variable, the approach (triage follow-up assessment or usual assessment) as the independent variable and socioeconomic status as covariate.
†Some children were referred to both additional PCH assessment and external services.
PCH, Preventive Child Healthcare.