Exploring patient referral denial: A case study of one health facility in Chipata District- Zambia

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Patients visit health facilities in search of satisfactory health care services.When Medical Doctors decide that the patient requires superior diagnostic attention or specialized management, they prepare a referral letter, organize in-transit care so that the patient can receive the required care.However, in the children's ward at one of the regional hospitals in Eastern Province, Zambia, approximately 1out of 10 refuse referral to the higher level of care.The objective of this study was to investigate refusal reasons.This study reviewed 5 patients' files reported to have had declined referral between January and December, 2023.This study found that extended family members such as grandmother, auntie, uncle were usually decision makers of the referral refusal.Reasons cited for refusal include: worry about how they would survive in a strange urban land where they did not have relatives, desire to use Traditional Medicines and escape from the excessive costs associated with transporting the dead body in case their relative died in a foreign land.This study recommends meaningful engagement of patients and their family members by Health Care Workers.