A study was made aiming at to analyse a referral system developed by a health unit located in a non-organized community and the Prof. Edgard Santos University Teaching Hospital of the Federal University of Bahia. From March, 1971 up to October, 1972, 352 out of 12,665 patients first seen in the health unit were refered by the health team to the university teaching hospital. Out of 352 only 170 got a complete reference during the above period. The value of the referral process was shown to be only unidirectional. International comparisons were made in regard to the flowing of patients to the hospital, age, sex, the nature of services provided by the teaching hospital in the OPD as well as in the In-Patient services. The returns of patients to the health unit among who had those completed the referral to the university hospital were shown to be very low. The reasons to explain these low rate of returns were not apparent in the present study.
Community health services; Hospital, referral sistem; Hospital teac
